By Erin Wood
Central Arkansas Early Childhood Mental Health Consultants Christine Lin and Elizabeth Waldrum have decades of combined experience working with young kids, many of whom experience periodic or permanent absences of important figures in their lives.
When Lin and Waldrum found no literary resources to start conversations with these children about their complex emotions around these losses, they decided to write their own book to serve the purpose.
I Remember You: Helping Children Think About People Who Are Not Present will be released from Little Rock-based publisher Et Alia Press on March 10, 2026. The authors hope that vivid illustrations of inclusive characters displaying many emotions by Little Rock artist Lacye Day will help reach the kids who need its message most.
“We hope this book will give a voice to young children’s complex feelings and give caregivers language to have these important conversations,” says Waldrum. Lin adds, “Ultimately, having open conversations early on, in an age-appropriate way, can positively impact the child’s mental health moving forward.”
Children’s connections may change due to circumstances like foster care, moving, deportation, incarceration, addiction, chronic illness, or death. By identifying a variety of feelings they may have over the course of an important relationship, I Remember You helps children feel less alone.
Lin and Waldrum hope that the impact of this book can be exponentially increased by connecting it with organizations that serve kids in these circumstances, so if you are part of or are aware of such organizations, please email the publisher at hello@etaliapress.com to initiate the connection. Order from national retailers or get your signed copy from etaliapress.com and take 10% off with code SPRINGS10.
Hot Springs native Erin Wood is a writer, editor, and publisher in Little Rock. She owns and runs etaliapress.com. Wood is the author of “Women Make Arkansas: Conversations With 50 Creatives” (2019) and editor of and a contributor to “Scars: An Anthology” (2015).
{Additional book reviews by Erin Wood can be found on our website at TheSpringsMagazine.com/AR Books.}
