Published: May 25th, 2021
Genre: Fiction/Children's literature
Audience: Elementary Level
Summary: This was a very easy read. I enjoyed it, it was about a girl and her grandma who began to pick blueberries. They had so many extra the girl got upset she couldn't eat them all. 
Her grandma had an idea that they should store them in jars. This then created a genius idea for the young girl- she thought that anything she cared about or liked, she could put in jars to save them and keep them in a safe place. Some examples are her stuffed animals, flowers, 'her friend that moved away', cookies, etc.. The jars represented special memories throughout her childhood. She got to a point in the book where she was eating toast but it tasted weird, she needed something and that something was the blueberry jam from her grandma. She bit into the toast and unlocked memories that felt like pure happiness. The message behind this book is sweet and easily relatable for students. At the end there is a recipe on how to make blueberry jam. In a classroom you could maybe use this book as a writing prompt- "What is a food that you would always eat growing up that you still enjoy now?" And at the end of the writing activity the class could possibly make the blueberry jam. I would recommend this to grades 2-6 at the Elementary school level.
Review: From Amazon- A young girl finds a clever way to keep her favorite things--and people--close to her forever in Memory Jars, from Caldecott Honoree Vera Brosgol.
Freda is devastated when she can’t eat all the delicious blueberries she’s picked. She has to wait a whole year before they’re back, and she doesn’t want to lose them! Then Gran reminds her that they can save blueberries in a jar, as jam. So Freda begins to save all her favorite things. But it turns out that saving everything also means she can’t enjoy anything, and Freda realizes that some things are best saved as memories.
A Booklist Editors' Choice Winner for 2021
Reviews
"Upset that she can’t eat every bucketful of blueberries she picked with her gran all in the same afternoon (“they were the best right then and they’d never be any better”), a lovably quirky girl takes “preserving” to a whole new level. Add Brosgol’s signature big-eyed characters, a touch of dark humor and a mouthwatering jam recipe, and you’ve got all the ingredients for a sequel." -The New York Times
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