By Colorado Kids Advisory Board member Emily Lewis

Title: Hmm?
Author: Diane Swanson
Illustrator: Rose Cowles

Hmm? is an odd book about memory. In this book, there are different chapters about different types of memory, and why you remember some things so well when you completely and totally forget other things.

It has six different chapters all about different things. The book is only 40 pages long, but has tons of information and fun things for you to do. In each chapter, there is a fun thing for you to try yourself and some interesting facts.

The first chapter is titled "Memory for Life." It tells you about your memory from beginning to end. It also tells you that a person named Publius Scipio, a general in ancient Rome memorized about 35,000 peoples names! Chapter 2 is about the "Memory Machine."

Chapter 3 is called "Remembering How and What." On page, thirteen it has something for you to do. Draw a star, then put the star in front of the mirror and by only looking in the mirror try to draw the star again. Each time you do, it will get easier. It also has something for you to do on page 15 and 17. On page 17, it tells you to have someone write down a 7-digit number and say it two times, then wait a minute and try to write it down.

Chapter 4 is called Drawing a blank." It tells you about something interesting. When you look at your shoe, you can easily tell that it is yours, but can you draw it? When trying to remember specific details about your shoe it is hard. You can do the same thing with a nickel.

The next chapter is called "Sharpening your Memory." It is about remembering things in order. To make it easier to remember things in order you can picture seven places in your house then walk from place to place, next you can think of seven tasks, to remember the tasks in order picture each task in one of the places and then walk from place to place. It does not matter if you are walking your dog in your swimming pool, the points is you remembered.

"Memories are You" is the next chapter is Hmm." Did you know that peoples memories are triggered the best by different things depending who you are? Some people learn and remember best by reading, others by seeing.

I would say that this is a very good book because it is full of information and is fun to read. I would recommend this book to boys and girls grades 4-6 because you might not like the style of writing if you are younger. I think that most people would enjoy the activities, so even if you do not want to learn anything from it, it would still be a good book to read.

On the cover of this book, it says, " The most interesting book you'll ever read about memory." You can tell that this book is targeted towards kids, and there are not many memory books for kids, and because of that, I think that the cover might be telling the truth! (October, 2002)