Blueberries for Sal [Paperback]

Robert McCloskey (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 30, 1976

Paperback

Blueberries for Sal, set against the mountains of Maine with winter quickly approaching, tells the dual stories of blueberry picking from the perspectives of a little girl and bear cub.  Drawing both parallels and contrasts between their experiences, Blueberries for Sal includes a harmonious theme supplemented with beautiful illustrations.

For Ages: 3 years & up.

Product Details

• Paperback: 64 pages
• Publisher: Penguin (September 30, 1976)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 014050169X
• ISBN-13: 978-0140501698
• Product Dimensions: 7.1 x 8.9 x 0.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (105 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #105,432 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

95 of 99 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful Symmetry of Nature, Family, and Nurture!, July 28, 2000

By 

Donald Mitchell "Jesus Loves You!" (Thanks for Providing My Reviews over 109,000 Helpful Votes Globally) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Blueberries for Sal (Viking Kestrel picture books) (Hardcover)

Little Sal and her mother go to Blueberry hill to pick berries, and they plan to can them as preserves for the winter. Little Sal soons starts eating all the berries she picks, plus some from her mother's pail. Encouraged to go off to find berries to pick by herself, mother and Sal become separated. On the other side of the mountain, Little Bear and his mother are coming to eat all the blueberries they can to get as fat as possible so they can survive the winter. They, too, get separated.

Soon, Little Sal stumbles onto following mother bear and Little Bear is following Sal's mother. Eventually, the mothers discover the mistake, back away in shyness from the other's child, and look for their own offspring. Along the way, the children run into bird mothers and their families as well. Everyone goes home with the correct mother, and the last drawing has Little Sal with her mother in an old-fashioned kitchen with a wood stove working on the preserves.

The story is gently and beautifully told, and wonderfully complemented by the illustrations (also drawn by Mr. McClosky).

It is a good introduction for children to the way that all human and animal families work, the need to prepare for the future, and that one has to pay attention to where one is going. It will also interest them in blueberry picking, which is a wonderful family occupation. It is also very heart-warming the way Mr. McClosky has taken the potential fright out of a situation where a child has wandered off and run into a mother bear. The child can draw her or his own lesson that they would not want that to happen to them, rather than having the story provide terror.

Mr. McClosky has expressed a benign but significant role to nature that will serve families well. I wonder if he ever visited the Galapagos, because the animals there and the people act much like in this story.

Overcome your disbelief stalls about how children can learn from stories with this outstanding book. I rate it one of my top five of all time for younger children. It was a favorite of all four of our children. I hope it will be for you and your children and grandchildren, as well.

Think of this story the next time you eat some blueberry preserves.

35 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A "blue" classic about blueberries, bears, and Moms., May 12, 1999

By 

R. D. Allison ([e-mail]) (Gainesville, Florida, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Blueberries for Sal (Paperback)

A children's book about a little girl named Sal who goes up into the hills to pick blueberries with her mother and eats as many blueberries as she puts into her pail! She encounters a mother bear and her cub also picking blueberries; but, soon the little cub is trailing Sal's mother while Sal is trailing the mother bear. McCloskey's blue and white illustrations are perfect for this story and it resulted in the book being a 1949 Caldecott Honor book (i.e., a runner-up to the Medal winner) for best illustration in a book for children. It is a must for the shelves of any parent of a preschooler or the shelf of any serious student of children literature.

29 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I Found My Thrill...On Blueberry Hill, February 7, 2005

By 

M. Allen Greenbaum (California) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Blueberries for Sal (Viking Kestrel picture books) (Hardcover)

Famed author Robert McCloskey ("Make Way for Ducklings," "One Morning in Maine," and others) wrote and illustrated this gently humorous parallel tale of two moms and their daughters on a blueberry hunt. One pair is human, and the other pair is bear!. As they proceed up opposite sides of rolling hill covered in blueberries, each member of the species copies the other: The moms focus on the task at hand, remembering the harsh winter ahead; the children ("Little Sal" and "Little Bear") focus on the immediate pleasures of eating blueberries--so much so, that each gets lost.

In a deftly portrayed switch, McCloskey shows the Little Bear following Little Sal's mom, and Little Sal following the Little Bear's mom. The two lost children are unafraid of following the mismatched grown-ups (ok, so McCloskey takes some liberties in this very light book). Eventually the two moms turn around and see who is following: Little Bear's mother discovers Sal and turns away: ("She was old enough to be shy of people, even a very small person like Little Sal.") Meanwhile, Little Sal's mom discovers Little Bear, and the mother back away: ("She was old enough to be shy of bears, even very small bears like Little Bear.") Each pair reunites and returns home, with an adventure and berries to savor over the winter.

McCloskey's deep blue-black drawings complement the appealing symmetry and innocence of the book, and the period furnishings, uncluttered landscape, and fashions add to the book's sentimental and enduring attraction. This is a very good bedtime story for little ones who can appreciate an affectionate and tender book.