Book Reviews: Blueberries

Fiction Stories

“More Blueberries!” by Susan Musgrave (PreK) is a playful rhyming book with beautiful illustrations. It begins with “Blueberry cheeks, blueberry chin, blueberry teeth, blueberry grin.” As the two children eat more and more blueberries they make more and more of a mess… and then ask for “more blueberries”!

Standards:

GELDS Standards CLL6.3a Listens and matches rhythm, volume, and pitch of rhymes, songs and chants
GELDS Standards CLL2.3b Listens and understands new vocabulary from activities, stories, and books.

“Jamberry” by Bruce Degen (PreK) tells the story of a bear and a little boy looking for berries to make jam. The words are rhyming and the illustrations are whimsical.

Standards:

GELDS Standards CLL6.3a Listens and matches rhythm, volume, and pitch of rhymes, songs and chants.
GELDS Standards CLL2.3b Listens and understands new vocabulary from activities, stories, and books.

“Blueberry Shoe” by Ann Dixon (Grades K-1) is a story of a family that goes blueberry picking in the mountains of Alaska but… they lose the baby’s shoe! As we follow the journey of the shoe, we meet different woodland creatures along the way.

Standards:

GSE Standard ELAGSE1RL2: Retell stories, including key details, and demonstrate understanding of their central message or lesson.
GSE Standard ELAGSE1RL3: Describe characters,settings, and major events in a story, using key details.

“Blueberries for Sal” by Robert McCloskey (Grades 1-2) is a Caldecott Honor Book that was originally published in 1948. It is the story of Sal and her mother picking blueberries alongside a momma and baby bear.

Standards:

GSE Standard ELAGSE1RL2: Retell stories, including key details, and demonstrate understanding of their central message or lesson.
GSE Standard ELAGSE1RL3: Describe characters,settings, and major events in a story, using key details.

“Berry Magic” by Teri Sloat (Grades 2-3) tells the story of an Eskimo girl and her magic – how she brings cranberries, blueberries, raspberries, and salmonberries to be for the elders of her village.

Standards:

GSE Standard ELAGSE3RL2: Recount stories, including fables, folktales, and myths from diverse cultures; determine the central message, lesson, or moral and explain how it is conveyed through key details in the text.
GSE Standard ELAGSE3RL3: Describe characters in a story (e.g., their traits, motivations, or feelings) and explain how their actions contribute to the sequence of events.