Books like Blueberries for Sal — picked by fans

This book is simple and captivating.

It’s no wonder it's a classic and enjoyed over and over again by families all over the world. There are so many ways to use this book in the kitchen with kids, but my favorite way is to use it to learn about fruit.

I used to read this book to my children and students and then review the many types of fruit in the story. Afterwards, it was fun to make a rainbow fruit salad and munch away just like the hungry caterpillar! It is also helpful for identifying and discussing the differences between healthy vs. unhealthy foods.

The book also includes: early learning for babies and toddlers of first food recognition, especially fruits; learn days of the week, numbers 1-5, and primary colors; review beginning, middle, and end of a story arc; and scientific process of metamorphosis. 

I love how many connections there are to the kitchen and literacy in this sweet story.

I read this book to my kids and then had fun planning (by writing and drawing just like Max) our own special cake to bake! Perhaps try your hands at baking an angel food cake with raspberry fluff icing just like Ruby’s, or maybe try Max’s “dirt” cake made of chocolate cake and gummy worms!

When my kids were younger, I always kept a little notepad in their play kitchen where they could play “restaurant" and take my order or make grocery lists. Before they could actually write, they would draw pictures to represent words, just like Max does in Bunny Cakes.

This book also includes: kitchen tool/appliance identification; reviewing basic cake baking ingredients; and pre-writing stage of drawing pictures to represent words.

I love this story for getting kids excited to bake cookies!

I read this book to my kids before heading into the kitchen to bake homemade chocolate chip cookies just like the little mouse in the story. Just be sure to have a cold glass of milk on hand to go with the cookies! The kids love to pretend they're little mice while enjoying the cookies and see who can take the teeniest, tiniest bites of their cookies!

This book is also great for: discussing the idea of a full-circle story arc; introducing the idea of pairings; learning about cause/effect; and practicing memory recall with questions such as what happened first in the story, next, etc.

I love Gingerbread Baby for all its whimsy and sweet holiday joy it brings to our home.

My kids and I pore over the beautiful, detailed illustrations with clues on each page. I read this book to my kids ahead of an annual tradition of baking gingerbread cookies and decorating gingerbread houses during the December holidays. It's fun to use the gingerbread baby’s house as inspiration for our own decorated gingerbread houses!

This story is also great for: art appreciation of beautiful, detailed illustrations; reviewing concept of clues left by illustrators and making story predictions based on those clues; and a whimsical, holiday-time story.

The catchy sing-song rhyming text is a delight for both tongue and ear. Packed with alliteration, consonance, and nonsensical compound words, this book is a super fun read-aloud. The artwork is just as wild and surreal as the text, showcasing swaying toast trees, tumbling blueberry waterfalls, and bursting strawberry fireworks. Here are some of my favorite nonsense words found inside: Jamble, Canoeberry, Boomberry, Razzamatazzberry, Clickety-clackberry

I love this book for several reasons, not the least being the feeling of nostalgia I get just from the illustrations. With one look at the Bear family on the cover, I am transported back to hiding under the covers to read after lights out, and the storyline brings back memories of all the summer fun with our church youth group.

The author doesn’t dance around the issue of lying—and that takes me back to my childhood, as well; we did not tap-dance around the truth! As a person of faith, I also appreciate that the text uses some wisdom scripture from Psalms as an anchor. 

Doughnuts and friends. Need I say more? This adorable rhyming picture book is a gem.

LouAnn has cooked up a delicious snack in anticipation of a long, winter nap when, Ding-Dong! A forest friend arrives. “Do you have enough for a neighbor to share?” asks Woodrow the woodchuck. “Sure,” says LouAnn, and she pulls up a chair. Can you imagine what comes next? Ding-Dong another visitor at the door!

Reminiscent of the old favorite, The Doorbell Rang, by Pat Hutchins, Dozens of Doughnuts is a counting book, but so much more. It’s about generosity, and the kind of open-hearted sharing that happens between good friends. 

Thanks for Nothing! Gets a big laugh on every page—and that is what makes this a big hit with young readers! If you aren’t familiar with Bruce, the grumpy bear, go meet him in his first book, Mother Bruce. In this book he is making a surprise fall feast for the mice, but, at every turn, his ingredients are ruined and when it’s time for the feast there is nothing to eat. But nevertheless, the whole crew (including a wet moose that joined the crowd), are grateful for that nothing (and a fun day)!

These small, sparsely illustrated books are so charming and quirky! At the surface, there seems to be very little going on, but there is a soothing quality to the simple text that allows you to contemplate the little wonders of life. The naïve artwork works so well with the quiet, short musings by Kuma-Kuma chan and the narrator.

This book depicts the death of Timothy Treadwell and Amie Huguenard in 2003 by an Alaskan brown bear at Katmai National Park. The reader is provided a wealth of information but must decide for themselves what really happened. As a past bear observer at Katmai National Park, I camped near brown bears twice, but in the parks designated electrified, fenced-in camping area, which was starkly different from Treadwells’ campsite within the grizzly maze. For twelve years prior, he continued his risky behavior and was unmolested by these very tolerant bears, but his luck ran out and the terrible attack occurred in 2003. This book provides a much more balanced portrayal of the bears than the 2005 movie Grizzly Man. The unique quality of Katmai National Park is the bears have become accustomed to people being there and an uneasy truce exists if you follow the bear guidelines and behave… show more.