Blueberries for Sal

When a young girl named Sal goes blueberry picking with her mother, she does far more eating than collecting. With her mother distracted by her goal of picking enough berries to preserve for the winter, young Sal wonders off, and is soon far from her mother's watchful eye. Meanwhile, a mother bear is urging her young cub to eat enough berries to survive the long hibernation that awaits them both. Like Sal, the bear cub wonders off on his own, and he, too, is soon far from his mother's protective care. Although both Sal and the bear cub each eventually find a mother, neither finds the mom they expected, in what proves to be two non-threatening human/animal encounters. An appreciation of the natural world, as well as a look at the similarities that exist between these two very different families, BLUEBERRIES FOR SAL features charming blue-and-white drawings and is a 1949 Caldecott Honor Book. Sal and her mother are based on author/illustrator Robert McCloskey's own wife and daughter, and the character of Sal also appears in the book ONE MORNING IN MAINE.