Today’s Favorite: Blueberries for Sal by Robert McCloskey

My favorite line of this book is the sound of the blueberries hitting the bottom of Sal’s pail “Kaplink, kaplank, kuplunk!” It’s really fun to say. And really, this book is fun to read because it’s so simple and sweet. Sal and her mother go out to pick blueberries to can for the winter. A bear and his mother go out to eat blueberries to fill up their bellies for the winter. There’s so many things right about this book. How similar we are in some ways to animals. How awesome it is to follow your mother around. How normal it is to get lost when you’re having a good time. How easy it is to eat a whole pail of blueberries. The illustrations are, to use an overused term- timeless. I especially love the wordless pages where Sal is standing on a chair “helping” her mother can the blueberries they’ve picked. It seems like a snapshot of my own life, really capturing the aching beauty of having little ones to hang out with- walking, working, playing. It’s all here in this classic.