Cassi and the House of Memories

Starred review from November 4, 2024
Stuart’s tender graphic novel debut presents a fanciful and uplifting take on memory loss. “Time is different for Grandpa than it is for us,” Cassi’s grandmother explains whenever Grandpa seemingly loses clarity. After Grandpa disappears into the woods, Cassi gives chase, soon finding a strange building shaped like a man’s head. Inside the structure, she encounters a cavernous Escher-inspired hall filled with picture frames and gleans that this is where Grandpa’s memories are stored. Upon entering one of the frames, her initial delight at meeting her grandfather as a young trumpet player is disrupted when the memory shatters into confetti. Discovering that she can interact with the recollection’s happenings, she enters several more, determined to help preserve each scenario. Though her plans often fail, Grandpa reassures her: “They can’t take away the stories we tell. Those we get to keep forever.” Depictions of the house capitalize on disorienting architecture to emphasize the complex nature of memory. Sometimes-psychedelic renderings of everyday occurrences add a touch of absurd whimsy to a story that, while tinged with sadness, approaches dementia with curiosity and respect. Cassi and her grandparents have pale skin. Ages 8–12.

January 1, 2025
Grades 4-7 If a picture is worth a thousand words, an effective visual metaphor can reveal entire depths of story and emotion. Indeed, the most powerful expressions in Stuart's moving and melancholy tale are the magical conversions of feeling and narrative into pure image. The beloved grandfather whose mind has become detached from the present floats in a panel of pure white. His confused granddaughter finds a huge structure in the shape of her grandfather's head in the middle of the forest. Within this titular house, Cassi winds her way through the maze of his memories, seeking to repair a trauma that has trapped her grandfather for his entire life. The all-important visuals give solidity to the highly conceptual tale, as well as both lending the pace a quick, lively flow and yet, paradoxically, maintaining an almost contemplative tone. This book calls for a thoughtful reader ready to engage with its examination of how memory defines our relationship to the world and to ourselves. Those who come to it will find themselves embraced by humanity and connection.

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