by Bruce Degan
published by Harper & Row
You know what really got my blood pumping in elementary school?!
Weekly Readers!
I looked forward to them every week...maybe that was an early clue that I would be a lifelong book nerd...
(There was that and Reading Rainbow...and the book fair...and a myriad of other indicators...)
So when I picked up Jamberry this week and saw the Weekly Reader logo displayed proudly, I nerded out a bit.
This isn't a book I remember reading as a kid, but I've read it several times as an adult. Seriously, Bruce Degan, do you have to be so fabulous at the fine art of rhyming picture books?! It is totally intimidating as a writer...and totally enthralling as a reader.
Rumble and ramble
In blackberry bramble
Billions of berries
For blackberry jamble
Bruce Degan on creating Jamberry from memories of summers spent in rural New York:
"It was green. It was soft. You could walk around in bare feet, and we used to go out and pick lots of berries that grew wild. I always thought of the world as being particularly generous and joyful. And when I was searching my memories, trying to write a book for very young children about being joyful, that popped right up."
I adore this book. I have read it to my son so many times that I have it memorized, and I've run across other parents and kids that have it memorized as well. Thank you for that quote from Bruce Degen. How nice to learn a bit more about where the book came from. Degen does capture that summertime joy with absolutely delicious words.
ReplyDeleteOh, I'm so glad you love it too, Karin! It is fun...and that quote from Degen is awesome to me. I can close my eyes and go there!
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