Berry Good Books
This post is an extension of the Blueberry Picking post done on Friday by Becca Renfroe…
Before we went (blueberry picking), we read my number one favorite children’s book: Blueberries for Sal. We read it about three times every night during the week leading up to our excursion. I love anything by Robert McCloskey, and I really think Blueberries for Sal is his best work, even though it was awarded a Caldecott honor, and not the Caldecott medal (which he won for Make Way for Ducklings, but, sorry folks–Blueberries is the more endearing choice). I don’t think your home library can be complete without this book . . . and it’s still as fresh and entertaining now as it was when it was first published, sixty years ago.
I got some more books about blueberries from the library to read to the boys–one is one of our repeat check-outs that I plan to buy, and it is called The Terrible Hodag and the Animal Catchers. The reason we got this one is because the hodag in this picture book (and the pictures are amazing, beautiful woodcuts) eats blueberry bushes as his food of choice. But two of the books I checked out were new to me: Blueberries for the Queen and Blueberry Mouse.
Blueberries for the Queen is based on a true story. Apparently, the Queen of the Netherlands fled to the United States during World War II, for her safety. She rented a house in Massachusetts, and a local farm boy took a basket of blueberries from his farm to her as a present. Queen Wilhelmina invited him right in and treated him very kindly, thanking him for his gift. Children’s book author Katherine Patterson and her husband, John Patterson, teamed up with illustrator Susan Jeffers to create a perfect story for children that really happened. Truman loved this one.
Brigham liked the second book better. Blueberry Mouse is a fun, rhyming story about a mouse whose favorite food in the world is blueberries, and who lives inside a blueberry pie. She nibbles her house, one piece at a time, until it is all gone . . . but then she decides to replace her house with a blueberry cake.
I recommend checking out books to go along with any outdoor adventure. Our family loves fiction and non-fiction alike, and most kids will get excited when a story captures their imagination about an activity, or when they feel like they are an “expert’ already. All of these books got my kids excited about berrying, and our preparation and then work paid off when we got to, literally, enjoy the fruits of our labors . . . á la blueberry buckle. I’m warning you . . . one taste and you may dread the eleven months of the year when fresh blueberries aren’t in season.
Becca Renfroe is an at-home mom, a lover of all things outdoors, a freelance writer, and a baker of desserts. She and her family live in Northwest Arkansas.
outdoors, adventure, kids, books, reading, summer fun, activities for kids, activities for children, childrens books, kids books
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