blueberries for bebe

One of our favorite childrens' books is "Blueberries for Sal" by Robert McCloskey. In the book, a little girl named Sal helps her mother pick blueberries to can for winter. Unannounced to mother and Sal, a mother bear and her baby are also storing up blueberries for winter. Sal keeps eating blueberries out of her mother's pail (to her mother's dismay) just like the bears who are eating blueberries off the bushes to prepare for hibernating. It is a big surprise for mother when she turns around to scold Sal for eating out of her bucket and finds it is the baby bear! And mother bear is shocked to find Sal behind her and not her precious baby bear. It is an adorable story that you should all take the time to read! I especially like the illustrations which are a throw back to the 1950's and appear to be wood or linoleum printmaking.

I'm pretty sure we have our own little Sal in Holland- Jonah VanderMeer! :) We met up with our good friends, Jane, Jonah and TJ VanderMeer today for a picking session at the Gold Barn. It was so fun to see all the kids out in the blueberry fields picking from the land. They really were all amazingly good (except a few hitting sessions by Sylvie to poor TJ!) I think for as many as Bebe picked, "to fill my bucket", Jonah ate. If only Bebe could take some ques from Jonah and eat some fruit we'd be all set. We picked over 5 lbs and it was only around $9.00, amazing. Bebe was such a follow-through like her mom and didn't want to leave until her bucket was full. Sorry to pass that trait on, Bebe.