Just Remember
Donna Blaber
Lighthouse Media Group
Pub. 2021

September 28, 2021

Just Remember by Donna Blaber is quite a gentle and compassionate book that really has some truth factor to it. It is an absorbing story about a young girl called Em whose father dies and then her mother ends up in hospital dealing with the shock. Luckily Em is staying with her grandmother and she is trying to fit in at her new school.

The book has been written in a very interesting way because it can only be viewed from one perspective, Em’s, the main character. I missed hearing the voices of the other characters though and learning more in-depth about their feelings and opinions.

The book is written in a short but confident manner like it knows that you are interested and want to get on with it, I think that the tone of the book is very focused and concise, because of how much it is to the point. It is not very descriptive, in my opinion, and leaves you to do the job of filling a lot of the gaps with your imagination.

Just Remember reminds me a little of the Roald Dahl story George’s Marvellous Medicine because both Em and George find two miracles: one comes across a mermaid and the other invents a magic potion.

I don’t remember many parts in Just Remember where the narrator is speaking, meaning that you have to listen to what the characters talk about to understand what’s happening.

This made me think of Vivian French’s writing, because of the topic and the one perspective approach to writing.

I would have loved to see this story go a bit further, for example, if Donna Blaber had explained what happens to Em when she goes back home. Does she face a new foe? Also what happened to the mermaid? There could be so many great ways to make the story longer.

The other thing that left me a bit perplexed is that as a fantasy book, it is really quite realistic. But apart from that, I think that Donna Blaber has done a great job and should consider writing a sequel.

• Lorenzo Yamamoto is 12 and lives in Thames.