When I moved to Australia 5 years ago I had to sort through all my things, I could only bring so much on the plane and because of the high shipping costs I only wanted to keep the items that meant a lot to me and carried special memories. One of the things I just couldn’t leave behind was my old ‘klasgenotenboek’ which means as much as ‘class mate book’.

It is looking pretty shabby by now and some pages are about to fall out but I still love having a little read of it every now and then. It is so much fun to look back at what I and my class mates listed as our hobbies, biggest dream and the most hilarious are the answers to the ‘what do you want to be when you grow up’ question (at least I always wanted to be a mum, or a model…). If it wasn’t for this little book I would not remember most of these things (or people) so I was very excited to come across the new book Friendships & Memories.

The Friendships & Memories book is created by mum Paulette Scrivano. When Paulette’s daughters started asking her questions about what her life was like when she was young she realised that there were many things she couldn’t remember. Especially the small facts that made certain memories, people or events so funny or special are easily forgotten over time so she decided to create a great keepsake book for children to record all those things in.

The book is divided in special categories, so that children can write down something about all different aspects of their life. From an ‘About me’ section to family, birthday parties to closest friends, teachers to school camp and much more, the end result will be a heartwarming bunch of memories that can be treasured by children as they grow up and later shared with their own partner and children. Most pages also have dedicated area’s to stick photo’s to really complete the picture.

The Friendships & Memories book gives some extra attention to the final year of primary school, it is such an exciting, busy and important year and it is over before you know it. By writing down little snippets of it children can always look back at the time at primary school and the precious friendships they made in those years. The friends might move away or go to different schools but at least they won’t forget them. You will love the special touches in Friendships & Memories, like the fact that there is room for teachers to describe your child in one word. I would love to read now what my teachers and friends used to think of me at that age!

The 42-page hard cover Friendships & Memories book costs $22 and lasts from prep up to grade 6 (just over $3 per year), a bargain price for such a great keepsake that will be enjoyed for a long time. Postage within Australia is $4.50 for one book (international orders $15), request a quote if you would like to order multiple books.

To find out more about the Friendships & Memories book and to order a copy so that your children can start recording their memories visit www.friendshipmemories.com.

For your chance to win your own copy of Friendships & Memories visit www.friendshipmemories.com and answer the following question: Who was your closest friend in primary school and are you still in touch with him/her?

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Competition ends September 18. Sorry, Australian entries only.