Compiled by Cynthia Leitich Smith

Enter to win one of two signed hardcover copies of What Flowers Remember by Shannon Wiersbitzky (namelos, 2014). Eligibility: U.S. From the promotional copy:

Most folks probably think gardens only get tended when they’re blooming. But most folks would be wrong. According to the almanac, a proper gardener does something every single month. 

Old Red Clancy was definitely a proper gardener. That’s why I enrolled myself in the Clancy School of Gardening. If I was going to learn about flowers, I wanted to learn from the best.

Delia and Old Red Clancy make quite a pair. He has the know-how and she has the get-up-and-go. When they dream up a seed- and flower-selling business, well, look out, Tucker’s Ferry, because here they come.


But something is happening to Old Red. And the doctors say he
 can’t be cured. He’s forgetting places and names and getting cranky for 
no reason. 

As his condition worsens, Delia takes it upon herself to save
 as many memories as she can. 

Her mission is to gather Old Red’s stories so that no one will forget, and she corrals everybody in town to help her.


What Flowers Remember is a story of love and loss, of a young girl coming to understand that even when people die, they live on in our minds, our hearts, and our stories.

Cynsational Notes

A portion of the proceeds from the sale of this book are donated to the Alzheimer’s Association. November is National Alzheimer’s Disease Awareness Month and National Caregiver Month in the United States.

In a recent interview with Cynsations, Shannon says:

“There was a lot of truth I could have drawn from. Moments when we
battled the disease and sometimes my grandfather, too, as his
personality, as well as his physical and mental abilities changed. In the end, I included only one truth.

“The emotion of being forgotten.” 

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