BookBrowse YA Book Award 2023

Remember Us is set largely across a single hazy summer of the 1970s in Bushwick, New York. With the neighborhood nicknamed "The Matchbox" by the press due to an ongoing spate of deadly housefires, 12-year-old Sage has grown up against a backdrop of sirens, ash, and dread over whose home will be next to burn. Basketball is her escape from the anxiety, and despite being the only girl on the local courts, she dreams of pursuing a future in professional sports. That is, until an encounter with a bully and the echo of his words — "What kind of girl are you, anyway?" — leaves her shaken.

Scared away from the courts for the first time in her life, Sage feels her entire identity is unmoored. Should she continue to strive for success as a girl in the male-dominated world of basketball, or should she conform and attempt to fit in with the popular girls ...