I Don't Remember: Stories of Memory Loss & Amnesia for Teens

It's always fun to read a book and try to discover the hidden secrets.  And there is nothing more secretive than lost memories.  So this week, I'm sharing teen stories about amnesia and memory loss.  Here are a few of my favorites . . . .

The Leaving by Tara Altebrando
Years after six kindergarteners go missing, five return as teens and struggle to reacclimate to life with their families in spite of trauma and an inability to remember about their experiences. None of them remember the sixth victim, Max, the only one who hasn't come back. Which leaves Max's sister, Avery, wanting answers and is determined to find her brother.

The Maze Runner by James Dashner
Sixteen-year-old Thomas wakes up with no memory in the middle of a maze and realizes he must work with the community in which he finds himself if he is to escape.

The Forgetting by Sharon Cameron
Canaan is a quiet city on an idyllic world, hemmed in by high walls, but every twelve years the town breaks out in a chaos of bloody violence, after which all the people undergo the Forgetting, in which they are left without any trace of memory of themselves, their families, or their lives--but somehow seventeen-year-old Nadia has never forgotten, and she is determined to find out what causes it and how to put a stop to the Forgetting forever.

Stolen by Vivian Vande Velde
A girl finds herself running through the forest at the edge of a village with no memory of anything, even her own name, and later learns that she might be twelve-year-old Isabelle, believed to be stolen by a witch six years before.


More Stories --
The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary Pearson
Breaking Beautiful by Jennifer Shaw Wolf
Damsel by Elana K. Arnold
The Dead I Know by Scot Gardner
Destroy All Monsters by Sam J. Miller
Forgotten: A Novel by Cat Patrick
Grown: A Novel by Tiffany D. Jackson
House of Hollow by Krystal Sutherland
The Last Thing I Remember by Andrew Klavan
Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac by Gabrielle Zevin
Mind Games by Shana Silver
The One Memory of Flora Banks by Emily Barr
Pretty Girl-13 by Liz Coley
Reverie by Ryan La Sala
Remember Me Always by Renee Collins
The Ruinous Sweep by Tim Wynne-Jones
Shadow State by Elyse Brayden
Surface Tension by Mike Mullin
With Malice by Eileen Cook

Check these books out on display at the Arnold Branch through September 24, 2021.

The Leaving by Tara Altebrando

Eleven years ago, six kindergartners disappeared on the first day of school.
No one knows what happened to them.  The only clues were a man carrying wrapping paper and a comment one of the kids made that she was "going to the leaving".

Now, five of the kids have come back. 
They still don't know what happened as none of the kids have memories of their time away.  They were simply dropped off at a playground with maps to their homes.

Who took them?  Where have them been?  And where is the sixth kid?



This book's unusual incorporation of spacial blocking, imagery, and highlighted text add to the heightened sense of strangeness and mystery.  It's told from the point of view of two of the victims as well as the sister of the kids who never returned.  It's a great mystery for teens to read.

The Forgetting by Sharon Cameron

Nadia lives in the city of Canaan where life is structured and safe.  They're protected from the wilds outside the city by their wall.

But every twelve years, comes the Forgetting -- a time of no consequences, no remorse, and no memories.  Everyone's memories of their entire life is lost during this time.  They don't remember their family, their past lives, or every themselves.

The only thing that saves them is their books in which they write down everything that happens to them and their lives every day.  It's the books that help them figure out their names, jobs, and families after the Forgetting.

There's just one problem . . . Nadia remembers.  She remembers the last Forgetting and her life before that.  She remembers her father cutting off her book and writing himself out of her family's lives.  She remembers the horrible things people did to each other.  She remembers and that remembering is going to cause trouble for her, her family, and Gray, the boy she has just started to love.



This book defies genre.  It seems like a simple dystopian fantasy at the start.  However, it quickly takes turns into other genres, seamlessly blending them together.  Nadia is a great character.  Although scared of attachment, she gradually breaks through her own walls to start letting in others.  The villain is well hidden until the dramatic reveal.  This is a great book for all teens to read.

When the Past Is Missing . . .

This week I'm sharing teen books featuring characters who have lost their memories.  Here are a few of my favorites . . . .

As I Wait by Elizabeth Scott
Seventeen-year-old Ava awakens with amnesia and a feeling that something is wrong with her life, her mother, and her friends but when the mysterious Morgan appears, her flashbacks of life as a spy for a shady government agency begin to make sense.

Survival Colony 9 by Joshua David Bellin
Querry Genn, a member of one of the last human survivor groups following global war, is targeted by the monstrous Skaldi, although Querry has no memory of why.

Being Henry David by Cal Armistead
Seventeen-year-old 'Hank,' who can't remember his identity, finds himself in Penn Station with a copy of Thoreau's Walden as his only possession and must figure out where he's from and why he ran away.

Stolen by Vivian Vande Velde
A girl finds herself running through the forest at the edge of a village with no memory of anything, even her own name, and later learns that she might be twelve-year-old Isabelle, believed to be stolen by a witch six years before.


More Books --
The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary PEarson
Asking for It by Louise O'Neill
Black River Falls by Jeff Hirsch
Complicit by Stephanie Kuehn
The Cuckoo Song by Frances Hardinge
The Dead I Know by Scott Gardner
Don't Look Back by Jennifer Armentrout
Don't Turn Around by Michelle Gagnon
Forgotten: A Novel by Cat Patrick
The Girl Who Was Supposed to Die by April Henry
I Am the Cheese by Robert Cormer
The Inventor's Secret by Andrea Cremer
The Last Thing I Remember by Andrew Klavan
Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac by Gabrielle Zevin
The Program by Suzanne Young
Purple Heart by Patricia McCormick
White Cat by Holly Black


Check these books out on display at the Arnold Branch through September 22, 2017.

The Girl Who Drank the Moon by Kelly Barnhill

Once a year, the youngest baby in the Protectorate is taken and left in the woods for the witch.  The witch steals the baby and eats it . . . .

Once a year, a witch finds an abandoned baby in the woods and rescues it.  She takes it to a loving family on the other side of the forest . . . .

One year, Xan the witch discovers a baby girl that steals her heart.  That year, Xan falls in love with the baby and feeds it moonlight enmagicking her.  This is the year that everything starts to change . . . for Xan, for the baby, for the forest, for the Protectorate, for the world.


I have loved all of Kelly Barnhill's books.  They are very sophisticated original fairy tales for children.  So I was looking forward to reading her latest.  Then it was declared the winner of the Newbery Award and I immediately checked it out.  I absolutely loved this book.  It's probably my favorite Newbery winner since The Invention of Hugo Cabret.  The characters capture your interest while the plot twists keep you reading.  This is a great read for all children and teens.

Pandora Hearts by Jun Mochizuki

Oz's coming of age ceremony quickly goes from celebration to horror when he is cast into the Abyss, an inescapable hell-like prison, for a sin he knows nothing about.  There is meets Alice and partners with her to escape from the Abyss.  Now he and Alice must find out several secrets including Oz's sin, Alice's lost memories, and who exactly is behind everything.

This is a great manga series for teens and adults.  It contains elements of mystery, family drama, suspense, the supernatural and even a little romance.  It is a series that truly keeps you guessing as the plot twists are revealed.  I also truly enjoyed the comedic parts that helped to keep the series from getting too heavy.