Danc­ing on Mem­o­ries will res­onate with any­one who has had a loved one suf­fer from demen­tia or Alzheimer’s dis​ease​.In this high­ly rec­om­mend­ed and beau­ti­ful sto­ry, young Sarah helps her beloved Nana, who has had lit­tle pieces of her stolen by ​“The Mem­o­ry Thief,” ​“remem­ber her­self.” With poet­ic lan­guage and stun­ning metaphors such as, ​“Her old mem­o­ries are sequins sewn to her tutu with silken threads,” Lewkow­icz cre­ates a sto­ry of love. She also del­i­cate­ly weaves in ref­er­ences to Jew­ish life and hol­i­days, men­tion­ing the times that Sarah and Nana baked chal­lah togeth­er and ref­er­enc­ing the Hanukkah meno­rah they lit and the Passover afikomen at their seder. 

At its core, this sto­ry, with dream­like illus­tra­tions by Sal­ly Gar­land, shows how a com­pas­sion­ate child brings joy to her sick grand­moth­er through lis­ten­ing, music, and dance. Inspired by the pri­ma bal­le­ri­na Mar­ta Cin­ta González, Danc­ing on Mem­o­ries is the per­fect sto­ry to share with a young per­son whose grand­par­ent has lost their memory. 

A glos­sary at the end of the book defines Jew­ish and bal­let terms that may not be famil­iar to all readers.