Sunday, July 18, 2010

blueberries for S

I found a bunch of tiny metal buckets at a gardening store last year and knew exactly what to do with them. I brought them, with a few pints of blueberries and the book Blueberries for Sal, to Tsia's school for snack time.


If you're not familiar with the story, little Sal and her mother go up Blueberry Hill to pick blueberries to can for the winter. Sal's mother picks blueberries and puts them into her large bucket, and Sal likes the sound the blueberries make when she drops them into her own little bucket: kuplink, kuplank, kuplunk. But Sal really prefers to eat the berries.

While I read the story out loud to S and her classmates, they dropped blueberries into their buckets just like Sal. They liked the kuplink, kuplank, kuplunk sound the berries made but, just like Sal, they preferred to eat them.


After a while of picking, Sal gets tired and sits down to eat all the berries she can reach from her spot.

Meanwhile in the story, Little Bear and his mother are coming up the other side of
Blueberry Hill, eating all the berries they can store up for winter. Little Bear gets tired and sits down to eat blueberries while his mother continues along.


But when Sal and Little Bear hurry to catch up with their mothers, things get all mixed up. Little Sal finds Little Bear's mum, and Little Bear finds little Sal's mum. Everyone is surprised, and both mums go hurrying off to find their own offspring. I love the expression on the Little Bear's mom's face in this illustration.


In the end, everyone is reunited, get all the berries they need, and return home down their respective sides of the mountain for a happy ending. Here are Sal and her mother, canning blueberries for the winter.


And at the end of our story, everyone had eaten all their blueberries and had a good time in the process.

7 comments:

  1. Thank you for the lovely review of a wonderful story. I think I'll head to the fridge to eat so blueberries.

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  2. Oh yes! This was one of my favorite books as a little girl, and I remember my mom reading it to me. I have the book now and love to read it to my three boys.

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  3. What a lovely idea. I am sure those children will still remember that day when they are old and gray.

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  4. This is one of H.'s favorite books as well. For her birthday every year, we take her blueberry picking, and she runs around saying "kuplink, kuplank, kuplunk," the entire time.

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  5. So fun! We love that book. Have you guys read the sequel - One Morning in Maine? Also a fun one where Sal loses her first tooth.

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  6. Awe. This is one of my favorite books. I love this post. I'll be linking from over at www.onthelap.blogspot.com come visit us.
    Graciously,
    Aimee

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  7. found your wonderful blog after buying an Oliver + S pattern in Ashland, Oregon while on vacation. When I saw this post I knew I'd found a kindred spirit...specially since you posted the image of Sal and her mum canning the blueberries...I could gaze at that illustration forever...

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