Blueberries for Sal by Robert McCloskey was originally published in 1948. It won the Caldecott Honor Book award in 1949. This is such a lovely book with a sweet story and beautiful illustrations
When teaching especially preschool-grade 4, this is a great book for many different themes, seasonal studies or unit studies. Children older than 6 might be able to read it on their own, but it is a wonderful read a-loud. Themes include: blueberries, black bears, summer time, Blessed Virgin Mary (blue is Her color, of course!) and you might throw in a small chat about obeying your mother. With older children, talk about where you will find blueberries (wild and cultivated), varieties of blueberries (especially high and low) and methods of consuming blueberries (fresh, in a cold or hot recipe, frozen, preserved, dried). And if you are lucky enough to live in the vicinity of New England, take a drive to Maine in July and buy some fresh blueberries. There is just something special about Maine blueberries!
If you look on Pinterest, there are art projects, crafts and recipes galore. Here’s the link to my Pinterest Blueberries for Sal board.
Read the book aloud!
Make blueberry crisp and serve warm with vanilla ice cream. YUMMY!
We love Betty Crocker’s recipe for apple crisp so I use it as my “go-to fruit crisp recipe”. I exchange the apples for blueberries and sometimes a variety of berries.
Here is my revised Betty Crocker apple crisp based recipe:
Ingredients:
4 cups of fresh (or frozen) blueberries
3/4 brown sugar (packed)
1/2 cup of all-purpose flour
1/2 cup of oats (old-fashioned or quick-cooking)
1/3 cup butter softened
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon (you can also use a touch of nutmeg as well, I’m just not a fan)
Heat the oven to 375 degrees, prepare an 8×8 pan with cooking spray or butter. Spread the blueberries in the bottom of the pan. Stir the remaining ingredients together and spread evenly over the blueberries. Bake 30 minutes (or until brown and bubbling). Serve warm with ice cream!
I highly recommend reading this book every July followed by a bowl of warm blueberry crisp and ice cream.
