Blackberry Banquet

by Lisa Downey, Terry Pierce

Overview

Mmm-mm! Forest animals squeak, tweet, slurp, yip and chomp over the sweet, plump fruit of a wild blackberry bush. But what happens when a bear arrives to take part in the feast? Young children will enjoy following the story by making the animal sounds, and the chaos that strikes upon the bear's arrival will surely bring on the laughter. The cumulative, rhyming text makes for a great read-aloud.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781607180296
Publisher:	Arbordale Publishing
Publication date:	05/10/2013
Series:	El banquete de moras , #1
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	32
Lexile:	NC430L (what's this?)
File size:	6 MB
Age Range:	3 - 5 Years

About the Author

Terry Pierce (Blackberry Banquet) is the author of sixteen children's books, including picture books, easy readers, joke books, and non-fiction. Terry now writes full-time, teaches children's writing workshops and is a visiting author at elementary schools. She also proudly serves on the Ventura/Santa Barbara regional board of the SCBWI. Terry was inspired to write Blackberry Banquet by her son (now grown) and their berry-picking family vacations in Oregon. Even though he hated bees (which frequented the blackberry bushes), he knew the lessons of The Little Red Hen and would help her to pick berries anyway. Terry lives in the high desert of California with her husband of thirty years, one goldfish, and a brown bobtailed cat.

Editorial Reviews

K-Gr 3

A mouse, bluebird, squirrel, fox, and deer are all enjoying blackberries until Bear stops by for his share of the fruit. All scatter in fear, except the bluebird, who swoops in and takes the last berry right off the bear's paw. The rhyming text and repetition make this an enjoyable read-aloud: "Squirrel skips into the brambles thick./That snacking squirrel gives a great big lick./Slurp! Mmm-mm!/Tweet! Mmm-mm!/Squeak! Mmm-mm! " The illustrations give the fairly realistic animals great facial expressions that work perfectly with the text. The surprise they show when the bear arrives is a comic delight. An especially nice touch is the berry stains on all the faces-except poor Bear's. The last four pages, "For Creative Minds," offer information on blackberries, the food chain, native and nonnative plants, how plants and animals help each other, and a smoothie recipe. This section is for a variety of ages and can easily be modified to fit a specific grade level.-Catherine Callegari, Gay-Kimball Library, Troy, NH

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