Blueberries for All

We have a winner! Plus, literary trivia and a round-up of summer reading programs.

Can we have a drum-roll, please?

You all voted last week, and the winner of The Great American Picture Book contest is…Blueberries for Sal! This classic by Robert McCloskey won a 1949 Caldecott Honor, remains a bestseller, and (perhaps the surest stamp of approval) stands as a consistent favorite with children and their parents. Now it adds to its trophy case the official Hundred Acre Bookshelf Great American Picture Book award.

Congratulations to Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel for a well-earned second place finish.

Thanks to all who nominated books and voted! If you’d like to vote in more literary tournaments in the future, leave a comment or reply by email to let me know what categories you’d like to see.

A few times a month we dive into literary trivia, so in honor of Blueberries for Sal, all of today’s questions involve berries. How many of these books can you identify?

Literary Trivia

Easy

A bear and a boy bond over berry-picking. Raspberry jazzberry razzamatazzberry!

See the answer here.

Medium

While picking blackberries to fill the Store Stump for winter, one berry-picker wanders off and gets lost in the Chestnut Woods.

See the answer here.

Hard

When Dad dies during the Great Depression, a girl and her family forage for food, including berries that fill their jars like jewels. (Despite such a serious summary, this is actually an uplifting, excellent picture book.)

See the answer here.

Bonus

Today we have two bonus questions.

Bonus question #1: G is for gooseberry, grapefruit, and grape. H is for huckleberry.

See the answer here.

Bonus question #2: In this chapter book, the extended family gathers for a dance at Grandpa’s to celebrate maple sugar season. Aunt Docia’s dress has buttons that look just like blackberries.

See the answer here.

Plus, if this post has put you in the mood for berries, take a look at A Fine Dessert: Four Centuries, Four Families, One Delicious Treat. This picture book introduces us to blackberry fool and shows how it has been made over time. I had never appreciated an electric mixer so much before reading this and making my own blackberry fool with my children a few years ago! Marina Brungardt of Stay At Home Summa also reflected on this book recently.

Charles Courtney Curran, Blueberries and Ferns.

Summer reading programs

Libraries tend to have the best summer reading programs, but many more are out there. I searched for some of the best.

Half-Price Books: $5 store credit for kids age 14 or younger who read at least 300 minutes.

Barnes and Noble: A free book for 1^st-6^th graders who read 8 books and complete a reading journal.

The Second Lady’s Summer Reading Challenge: A certificate, a bookmark, and entrance into a lottery for a trip to DC for K-8^th grade students who read 12 books.

Pizza Hut Book-It: Personal pan pizza for kids Pre-K to 6^th grade who meet reading goals set by their parents.

And some Substackers have their own summer reading programs running, too! Take a look at the Summer Reading Challenge from The Bad Moms Homeschool and Summer Reading Bingo from Savannah Payne.

Trivia Questions Scoring

If you got one question correct: You are Piglet, a loyal friend who appreciates good stories and recognizes quality work when he sees it, but whose exposure to literature is somewhat limited. Keep reading more books!

If you got two questions correct: You are Rabbit, an efficient fellow who knows more than most but needn’t be bothered with mastering all that pertains to book learning.

If you got three or four questions correct: Congratulations! You are Owl. Your knowledge is deep and ponderous and impressive. Feel free to celebrate by restacking this post (but don’t spoil any of the answers for others).

And yes, to clarify, in Winnie-the-Pooh, Rabbit can in fact read and write better than Owl, who cannot do either any better than my kindergartener. But I think it’s still clear that Owl has a deeper well of knowledge than does Rabbit; hence I’m giving Owl’s name to the higher score.

Sharing

If you enjoyed these trivia questions, would you share them a with a friend or restack here on Substack?

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