Blueberries for Sal by Robert McCloskey - 1948
Ages (3-7)
Sal and her mother go blueberry picking one afternoon on Blueberry Hill. Sal gets so engrossed in her picking that she does not notice a mother bear and her cub nearby. Both families work side by side picking and eating berries. Sal and the cub form a connection through their playful attitudes and a common love of blueberries.
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6 comments:
This is one of my all-time favorite children's books. I love the way the mothers and the "kids" get all mixed up on Blueberry Hill. I can almost taste the sweet berries, smell the fresh summer Maine air, and feel the "fur" on the back of my neck stand on in imagining the surprise encounter with the bears. Such a great story and one which will always connect me to the land I love.
When I was blueberry picking in Vermont a few years back with some good friends I watched their children's heads bobbing up and down among the bushes. Being an early childhood educator for a number of years I instantly thought of this classic story. I have never been to Maine but I have a feeling the land there has a similar magic to it. We seemed to lose ourselves and wonder if a bear was in our presence then. We wouldn't have known because we were having too much fun!
I recently came across wild blueberries and thought of this lovely book. The simple line drawings are beautiful. The drawings and sweet story make it such a classic perfect for this time of year. I love how Sal eats all her blueberries, how the bears and humans interact with out fear of one another(for the most part), and how the story portrays the simple joys of wild harvesting. Lovely.
I love the way Sal picking blueberries and in the book One Morning in Maine is so enchanting that it makes one want to be just like Sal. She has always represented my eternal childhood, my unending inquisitiveness, my sheer joy of summer in New England and the sense of wonder as Sal (or is it me?) go clamming with my dad...McCloskey's One Morning in Maine is really all about the sense of place, the intimacy of family experiences, and the gifts that the natural world offers up to make our childhood exquisitely memorable.
I am so glad that I found you. Blueberries for Sal has always been one of my favorite children's stories as a child and then for the past 10 years in my classes at the Living Wisdom School of Seattle. I love acting this book out with the little ones. There are so many "flow learning" activities and of course traveling out in nature to explore the wilderness. Picking blueberries is also way to instill the beauty and reverence of life for a young child.
Chandi I am interested in the "flow learning" activities you have engaged in past in your classroom relating to Blueberries for Sal. Can you leave a sample activity on the Curriculum blog in relation to this story? In the past I have used Blueberries for Sal when planning my early ed curriculum in the late summer as well, and also through process drama work in nature.
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