Blueberries For Sal is one of my favorite children’s books. I’ve been reading this one for over a decade with my children – always before we go blueberry picking in June but also all during the year. It’s one of those classic children’s books that I can read day after day and never tire of. And, it’s one my children frequently pull off the shelves to read.
At the beginning of the story, mother says, “We’ll take our berries home and can them. Then we will have food for the winter.”
I just adore the inside cover illustration of little Sal and her mother in the kitchen doing just that – canning blueberries for the winter.
It’s such a sweet illustration of a mother working alongside her child preserving food. Even though this is a scene from the 1940s, it’s a scene that plays out in my own kitchen each summer as we also can some of our blueberry harvest to enjoy during the winter.
After borrowing Blueberries for Sal from the library for a couple years, I finally purchased a paperback copy at a local used bookstore and it is very well loved.
I recently found a large, hardback copy in like new condition – complete with a dust jacket at a local thrift store for $1.50 and I just couldn’t leave it behind.
When I arrived home, I thought, “I’m going to put this new copy up high on the book shelf so the children can’t reach it – so it will stay in pristine condition – and we’ll continue reading the paperback copy together.”
My desire was to keep the new, crisp copy of this book in beautiful condition.
As I was thinking about keeping this copy in like new condition, I suddenly thought ahead to 20+ years from now – pulling a perfect copy of Blueberries For Sal off the shelf and reading it – to myself.
How sad it will be, for me, to have a beautiful copy of a children’s book to read to myself – without a small child in my lap. I’d much rather the book have a little bit of wear and tear here and there and have memories of my children snuggled up in my lap, turning the pages over and over.
My perspective on the books in our house – more specifically the worn books – changed entirely with the thought of life in 20+ years. I have a feeling that once the children are grown and gone, the tattered books on my bookshelf will be some of my favorites.
The books that are held together with packing tape, the ones with taped together pages where eager toddlers tore the pages while looking at the pictures over and over, the ones that were read every day for weeks on end and show that wear – the well loved books – will be my favorites. They will have rich memories of time spent with my children.
Books that show wear and tear have been used and enjoyed. And, the purpose of having things – is to use them – not for them to sit on a shelf accumulating dust.
While I’m still going to encourage my children to turn pages gently and treat our books well, trying keep our books in pristine condition now seems a bit silly.
Well loved books are the best books.
