Nancy knows / written and illustrated by Cybele Young.

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Nancy knows she's forgotten something. Something important. When she tries to remember, she thinks of all kinds of other things instead. She remembers things she knows and things she doesn't quite know. She remembers things one way, then another. Sometimes she remembers with her ears or her stomach or even her heart. But Nancy knows she's still forgetting something. It's only when Nancy stops thinking altogether that she finally remembers the very important thing she's forgotten. Nancy Knows is the charming story of an elephant who remember lots of things, except the very thing she is trying to remember. Each spread of this whimsical, arresting picture book features fantastic miniature paper sculptures within expressive outlines of a puzzled pachyderm. It's a book not to be forgotten.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Publishers Weekly Review

Despite the conventional wisdom about elephants' memories, "Nancy knows she's forgotten something. Something important..." Her efforts to summon that information from the depths of her brain fill the pages that follow, while providing a canvas for some truly exceptional paper sculptures from Young (A Few Bites). On blank white pages, Young roughly outlines Nancy in graphite; within Nancy's body are dozens of tiny, intricate sculptures that represent the objects, places, smells, sounds, and emotions filling her thoughts. Sometimes the objects are thematically linked (a miniature bicycle, unicycle, grocery cart, and wheelbarrow appear as Nancy remembers "Things with wheels"); sometimes they're "a jumbled-up mess." In one scene, Nancy's body stretches across a spread, echoing the arc of a life as Nancy "remembers things from long ago. Or two days before tomorrow." Inside Nancy's body, tiny replicas of children's toys and a bassinet give way to a hockey net, basketball hoop, and fishing rod. It's just enough of a dilemma to hang a story on, but it's the how-did-she-do-that nature of Young's paper constructions that will have readers returning to these pages again and again. Ages 3-7. (Aug.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

School Library Journal Review

Starred Review. PreS-Gr 2-Nancy, an elephant, knows that she has forgotten something important, but she can't for the life of her think what it is. She recalls all sorts of things that she likes and has pleasant associations with and thinks about things from long ago and from "two days before tomorrow." "Sometimes Nancy's ears do the remembering. Sometimes her stomach or nose does the work. And her heart remembers things from all different places, all kinds of times and all sorts of spaces." When she tires of concentrating so hard, she stops thinking altogether, and that's when she has her "aha" moment and remembers what eluded her. This story is told in simple, evocative language and is illustrated in minimalist style. Nancy appears as a blank slate drawn in graphite on plain white backdrops. Her elephantine shape is filled with colorful Japanese paper sculptures that reflect what's on her mind. For example, when she thinks of things with wheels, her shape is filled with a paper bicycles, a scooter, a wheelbarrow, a unicycle, and a shopping cart. Nancy is a charming protagonist with a memory like an elephant. She won't be soon forgotten.-Luann Toth, School Library Journal (c) Copyright 2014. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Booklist Review

Fashioned from Japanese papers, with outstanding artistry and realism, hundreds of small items ranging from abstract shapes to tiny, exquisitely detailed furniture, toys, flowers, clothing, and even musical instruments represent memories in the mind of a forgetful elephant. Nancy knows she has forgotten something important, and as she tries to think of what it might be, she thinks of all kinds of other things. Those things are placed within Nancy's quickly sketched outline on each page or spread against plain white backgrounds, grouped either by physical similarities (Things with wheels. / Things like clothes.) or in other associations like tastes, sounds, and even things from long ago. / Or two days before tomorrow. Each illustration invites lingering not only to identify individual objects but also to take in the visual harmonies of their colors and arrangements. The simply phrased narrative paces in the deliberate rhythm of an elephant's walk, moving occasionally into full or partial rhyme. Eventually Nancy's shape empties as she stops trying so hard to remember, and that's when it finally comes to her: a friend is waiting in the park! Unusually for a picture book about memory, there is no direct reference to death, old age, or Alzheimer's here. The connection could be made by a parent or caregiver, if desired, but along with its visual delights, this could also be read on a less emotionally fraught level, as a universally familiar struggle to recall something that's right on the tip of our tongue or trunk.--Peters, John Copyright 2015 Booklist

Kirkus Book Review

Nancy is an elephant who has forgotten something, and she just can't remember what it could be.She uses all the tricks she can as she struggles to come up with the missing information, but nothing works. She thinks of clothes, things with wheels, colors, things that fly, food, and all kinds of other odds and ends and ideas just out of reach. It is only when she relaxes and stops thinking about it that she remembers a play date at the park. The slight tale is charming, but it is merely the vehicle for a truly beautiful and unique visual tour de force. Young creates delicately worked, detailed illustrations of the things Nancy does remember and sorts them into a wide variety of categories shown within graphite-pencil outlines of Nancy's elephantine body in front, back, overhead and sideways perspectives. She appears standing or rearing, sleeping or sitting. Things are remembered neatly or jumbled up; sights, sounds and smells are recalled, as well as places and objects, all in interesting juxtapositions. Each item is a tiny, intricate sculpture made with Japanese papers. Colorful shapes in abstract design and amazingly detailed, seemingly three-dimensional objects demand intense, close examination, and fingers will tingle with the wish to lift them off the page. It's a work to be shared in wonderment and delight.Pure fascination. (Picture book. 3-10) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.