Blueberries for Sal

July is National Blueberry Month!

If any fruit deserves its own special month of honorable recognition, this little blue beauty certainly does. Native to North America, blueberries are grown in 35 out of the 50 states which means that the United States supplies roughly 95% of the entire world's crop!  With flavors ranging from puckery tart to mildly sweet, blueberries are in their prime in the month of July.  And as they are full of vitamins, fiber and antioxidants, they definitely make the healthy food list.

My little darling Emmy has an aversion to certain textures in food and blueberries are not often her fruit of choice.  However, when given the opportunity to pick her own, Emmy is much more likely to try new fruits. Fortunately for us, there are many farms in our area that offer pick-your-own so blueberry picking is one of our summer traditions.  

Before Emmy and I head out to our favorite local farm (Cider Hill Farm) to pick our own blueberries, we read Robert McCloskey's book Blueberries for Sal. This story is a classic as it has been enjoyed by generations of children and is still popular today. The endearing illustrations, rendered in dark blue ink reminiscent of the stain made by blueberries, was recognized with a Caldecott Honor in 1949.

McCloskey tells two stories side-by-side in this book, one of a little girl named Sal and her mother, who are picking wild blueberries to can for the winter, and another of a little bear cub and his mother, who are eating wild blueberries to prepare for winter hibernation. Sal's and Little Bear's paths eventually cross and then each follows the wrong mother around Blueberry Hill.  When I share this book with Emmy, her favorite part of the story is always the sound that the berries make when they hit Sal's small tin bucket "kuplink, kuplnak, kuplunk!" This sound is what makes Little Bear's mother aware that her bear cub is not behind her.  

                                                 

Something else that I enjoy about this story is its old fashioned concepts.  Emmy and I talked at length about the end papers of the book that showed a 1940's kitchen and the process of canning fruit.  I know that there are those that continue the tradition of canning in their home, but it is not something that is recognizable in Emmy's or my life.  

After reading the story, Emmy and I were definitely craving a fresh pail of blueberries of our own so off we went to the farm on a very hot day!  

         

Emmy was thrilled with the picking, but sad that the bucket we received at the farm didn't make the same sound as Sal's tin bucket.  She did eat quite a few berries right off of the bush, but there was no convincing her that this should be a favorite fruit.  As for me, I ate many more berries than what I added to the bucket!  Overall, the pick-your-own experience was a great time for both us and one that we will repeat.

When Emmy was younger, we very much enjoyed watching many of our favorite picture books come to life through the Scholastic Video Collection.  If you have the opportunity, look for the DVD Make Way for Ducklings...and More Robert McCloskey Stories.  Included are the stories Make Way for Ducklings, Blueberries for Sal, Time of Wonder, Lentil and Burt Dow, Deep Water Man.  Although not animated as the other stories in the DVD series, the narration and music makes it a nice addition to the classic McCloskey stories.  

Emmy and I are such HUGE fans of Robert McCloskey and we hope that his post inspires others to pick up his books and read them.  We have a wonderful treasury of McCloskey classics titled Make Way for McCloskey - A Robert McCloskey Treasury that has 8 complete stories, including Blueberries for Sal, with an introduction by Leonard S. Marcus as well as photographs and original drawings by the author.

If you would like more of McCloskey, then check out our review of another one of his classics Make Way for Ducklings.  Also, look for One Morning in Maine which is considered to be a sequel to Blueberries for Sal.

To continue to inspire all things blueberry, Emmy and I would also recommend the following books:

Blueberries Grow on a Bush by Mari Schuh

  

Blueberry Mouse by Alice Low

More Blueberries by Susan Musgrave

Peter in Blueberry Land by Elsa Beskow

And if you have any blueberries left after picking, there are many delicious treats that can be made, but since Emmy loves putting syrup on her pancakes and waffles (of course freshly picked blueberries can be added to these as well), I thought we might try this simple recipe for Blueberry Syrup!

1/2 cup sugar                      1/4 cup water

1/4 cup light corn syrup     1 tbs cornstarch

2 tsp lemon juice                2 cups of blueberries

Stir together all ingredients in a large microwave safe bowl.  Microwave on full power 5 minutes. Stir and serve warm.  

Blueberry Deliciousness!

The Children of All Lands Stories

Baldface Books ~ Dover, NH

Just the other day I walked into a used bookstore and walked out with a treasure!  I discovered the author Madeline Brandeis and brought home one of her beautiful books Little John of New England from her series The Children of America Stories.  I would have liked to have brought home the entire collection found on the shelf as it also included books from her other series The Children of All Lands Stories, but the wallet only allowed for one this time around.

With a bit of research, Emmy and I learned that Madeline Brandeis wrote works of fiction about children from the United Stares and from Europe that were interspersed with facts about these areas.  Her inspiration for her writing about children from many lands came from reading books with her daughter Marie.  They realized that many of these books were written many years ago and didn't portray children in modern times.  With her daughter in tow, Ms. Brandeis took photographs on her reflex camera, nicknamed Ref, of the various regions as well as of actors who portrayed the characters she was writing about.  Marie offered important insight to her mother.  Brandeis said, "It was Marie who guided my footsteps along the right road towards child understanding while the trusty camera made possible the illustrations."

Although the books in Brandeis' series were written in the late 1920's and the 1930's, we still feel their relevance.  I chose to purchase the book Little John of New England since this is the area where we live. Emmy enjoyed hearing the story of John who lived in Boston, but was left to live with his Aunt and Uncle in Maine while his parents went on a "motor trip."  The story includes letters from John's mother telling of her New England adventures with his father.  Emmy and I were both thrilled whenever she talked about a place where we have been.  We both enjoyed John's relationship with the teacher at the one room country school.  Miss Wells helped John come up with a plan to keep his dog Pal close by when his Aunt and Uncle sent the dog away to live in town due to his mischievous behavior.

Whenever Emmy and I are in a second hand bookstore, we will look for Brandeis' books.  It will be like a scavenger hunt to us and when we find one, we will celebrate!  We hope that you, too, will look for her beautiful books especially if you are searching for interesting chapter books to read with your child.

UPDATE 8/30/15
*We recently connected with Chris Otto who writes about all things ephemera on his blog Papergreat.  I must admit that I had to look up the definition of ephemera!  Ephemera is any transitory written or printed matter not meant to be retained or preserved; items of collectible memorabilia, typically written or printed ones, that were originally expected to have only short-term use.  Chris' blog is full of beautifully illustrated post cards, recipe booklets and book covers from the past. My favorite sections on the blog are School Days where old basal readers can be found along with Tucked Away Inside where Chris features items he finds inside vintage books like a Dubble Bubble quiz tucked inside of an old school book.  As a child, I loved reading the comics and the fortunes inside of Dubble Bubble gum!

After discovering that Emmy and I were also fans of The Children of America Stories, Chris sent us three books from his collection!  To learn more about these vintage books with the beautifully illustrated covers, check out Chris' post Children of America Stories: 5 awesome vintage covers.

Thank you, Chris!

Summertime

It's Summertime!

     

Plum Island ~ Massachusetts

What Emmy loves about SUMMER...lazy days, flip flops, 

chocolate ice cream, juicy watermelon, swimming pools, walks in the woods, bike riding, 

the ocean:  the smell of the warm sea breezes, the sound of the crashing waves, 

the warm sand between her toes and so much more.  SUMMER!  

With more time spent outdoors during the summer, we find ourselves working to create moments in the day for reading and creating indoors (quite different from wintertime when we work on creating moments to be outdoors).

When we first wake up and right before bed seem to be the best times for reading and creating in our household. I recently restocked Emmy's paint supplies and set up her art table with an "invitation to paint." When she woke up the next morning and saw her table, she was so surprised and very motivated to get back to painting.

Emmy's art table and her painting of a sailboat at sunset 

inspired by the view outside of our living room window.  

We've also been motivated to keep reading thanks to our local bookstore and library.  Both have fun summer reading programs going on right now.  At The Book Rack, children are given a passport to Find Waldo in Newburyport.  Local businesses have a small cutout of Waldo hidden somewhere in their store and it's up to the child to find him. Emmy is much better at this seek and find game than I am. She gets so excited when she can ask the shopkeeper to sign her passport.  We have two more Waldos to find and then we can enter our name into the grand prize drawing (a set of Where's Waldo books).

The library's Fizz, Boom, Read program has Emmy reading books for prizes like a coupon to her favorite frozen yogurt shop - Orange Leaf, a free book (she choose Gingerbread Friends by one of her favorite authors Jan Brett) and a free Topsfield Fair ticket!  Emmy fractured her wrist six weeks ago so I've been helping her to fill in her reading log with the titles of the books.

Here are a few books that we've been reading to celebrate the season of SUMMER! (books are listed from a more difficult reading/listening level to an easier one)

Time of Wonder, written and illustrated by Robert McCloskey, won the Caldecott Medal in 1958 for the gorgeous illustrations which depict the Maine landscape in summer.  This is McCloskey's second Caldecott award the first being for Make Way For Ducklings. Time of Wonder revolves around two sisters who spend the summer with their family at the seashore.


When the Relatives Came by Cynthia Rylant illustrations by Steven Gammel  You can just feel the family love as soon as you open this book about distant relatives coming to stay for the summer. Many people will relate to the connection one has with relatives that you only see once or twice a year ~ you make the visit worthwhile filling each other up to last until the next gathering.

Summersaults and A Summer Day by Douglas Florian...the first is a collection of poems that shares the joys of summer and the not so joyful things - annoying flies! The second is the story of a family that leaves the sweltering heat of a summer day in the city to spend time exploring in the country.  Emmy and I love it when a book shows a family that lives in an apartment since that is home to us.

Summer Days and Nights by Wong Herbert Yee  I love the nostalgic feel of this sweet story. Emmy loves that the main character is the same little girl from one of our favorite winter books Tracks in the Snow (check out our post here).  Yee creates a summer day that is full of wonder and magic from sun up to sun down.  

I See Summer by Charles Gigna, better known as Father Goose, thrills us with his lyrical rhymes. This book is one of four in a series of books about the seasons. Emmy's favorite part is when the children are chasing fireflies in the dark. Such fascinating little creatures.

Summer by Gerda Muller - This book is one of four in a series of wordless picture books about the seasons.  We have enjoyed this set of books since Emmy was a baby first talking about what we saw as we slowly turned the pages to telling a different story each time we opened the book using the beautiful detailed pictures.  Now we use the books to inspire creative writing about the seasons.  Here's an example of a recent poem inspired by the book...

Summer 

by Emmy

hot and sweaty, sunny and rainy, 

biking and swimming, chilly and juicy

splashing and diving
SUMMER!

We wish everyone a summer full of fun adventures and relaxing days!

A Tree for Emmy

Emmy's name is in a book!!!!!!!!!

How exciting to be given this book by a very special girl and her just as special nanny. Thank you Sydney and Lauren!

The book, A Tree for Emmy, couldn't be more perfect for my little Emmy. She has always loved trees and the little girl in this book does too.

"Emmy loved all kinds of trees. Oak trees with acorns. Pine trees with cones. Willows with long, swishy branches. But best of all, Emmy loved the mimosa tree in Gramma's pasture."

This story is told through the words of Mary Ann Rodman and the gorgeous illustrations of Tatjana Mai-Wyss. The two of them have created a book that showcases the beauty of nature all around and encourages us to cherish our special dreams.

Emmy's favorite character in the book is of course the little girl Emmy. She can be seen doing lots of things that my Emmy likes doing, for example, collecting pine cones, having a tea party, swinging on a tree branch, dancing in a tutu, playing on a hippity-hop ball, and eating cupcakes on her birthday. When the Gramma declares, "That ol' tree is a lot like you. Stubborn and strong and a little bit wild." I also knew that my Emmy had much in common with this delightful character.

In the story, Emmy wanted a mimosa tree for her birthday, but no one sold the wild trees with fuzzy pink blossoms and seed pods that sounded like maracas when shaken. Emmy was about to give up when she discovers a small mimosa sapling growing in Gramma's yard. With Gramma's help, she carefully digs up the tiny tree, wraps the roots in wet newspaper and puts the mimosa in a big tomato can. Once home, Emmy plants the tree right under her bedroom window, but then realizes that this little tree won't have pink blossoms and seed pods for quite some time. This is disappointing until she realizes that if she keeps it safe, loves it and waters it, the tiny tree will grow up tall one day.

My Emmy wishes that she could see a Mimosa Tree, but the best that I can do for her are photographs of these beautiful trees like this one showing the fuzzy pink blossoms.

Let's Plant a Tree

Eileen Fisher

It's time to plant a tree, a tree

What shall it be? What shall it be?

Let's plant a pine - we can't go wrong:

A pine is green the whole year long.

Let's plant a maple - more than one,

To shade us from the morning sun.

Let's plant a cherry - you know why:

There's nothing like a cherry pie!

Let's plant an elm - the tree of grace,

Where robins find a nesting place.

Let's plant an apple - not too small,

With flowers in spring and fruit in fall.

Let's plant a fir - so it can be,

A lighted outdoor Christmas tree.

Let's plant a birch, an oak, a beech,

There's something extra nice in each...

In winter, summer, spring or fall.

Let's plant a...

Why not plant them ALL?

(Prescott Park - Portsmouth, NH 2011)

I Call Mine Mimi. What Do You Call Your Grandmother?

We are celebrating our second anniversary here at Emmy's Book of the Day! Looking back through all of our posts, I am feeling such gratitude. I am grateful for such a wonderful daughter who loves books just like her Mommy. I am grateful to have such a wide collection of books to share with Emmy as well as places to go that have shelves stocked with wonderful books. I am grateful to all of the authors and illustrators who continue to write and illustrate beautiful books for children. I am grateful to our readers who inspire us to keep on reading books and writing about them! It is our hope to continue reviewing books that ignite a love for reading that will last a lifetime.

Emmy and I are very excited to tell you that she is featured in a wonderful book titled I Call Mine Mimi. What Do You Call Your Grandmother?

This book was written by a good friend of mine - Jennifer Bailey. Jen and I taught together at Boggy Creek Elementary in Kissimmee, Florida many moons ago and also attended the graduate program at The University of Southern Mississippi together. She is the ultimate teacher of young children and adults and is now a published author! I often think that I have a story to write, but can't seem to put it together so seeing Jen's story in published form is just so inspiring! I am so proud of her.

I Call Mine Mimi. What Do You Call Your Grandmother? is a book about the different names for grandmother. Emmy calls hers Yaya and is featured on the front cover of the book as well as inside - left side on this spread ---------------------------->

"There are so many neat names for grandmothers. Some grandmothers use their own names. Some use funny sounding names. Some are just called Grandmother. No matter what, she is your special grandmother. What do you call your grandmother?"

Mimi, Abuela, Nonna and Grammy are some of the names of grandmothers featured in this endearing book. This would make such a lovely gift for your child's grandmother especially since the last page is reserved for you to glue a photo of your child and his or her grandmother and then add the text underneath: _________ calls ______ ______________.

I love the photo of Emmy and her Yaya that is in the book. She was just nine months old and full of curiosity (that hasn't changed). Here is an updated photo of the two of them together.

Emmy calls hers Yaya.

"A grandmother is a little bit parent, a little bit teacher,

and a little bit best friend." ~ Author Unknown