Summary
A young girl finds a clever way to keep her favorite things, and people close to her forever after going blueberry picking with her gran. Even though the blueberries are best when first picked, Freda isn’t able to eat them all. This gave her an idea. Freda began saving everything she wanted to keep fresh in jars. When she saved all her favorite things, her world was silent. At that point, Freda was reminded of all her favorite memories.
Theme(s):
exploration, memories, preserve, living in the moment
Personal Response
I liked how this book showed Freda wanting to save everything she cherished such as summer, friendships, her grandparents, and more. It illustrates our desire to want to live in certain moments forever. I liked the illustrations and how they changed over the course of the book to reflect on the mood. For example, the illustrations became dull once Freda saved everything she could which shows us to enjoy what we have while we have it and to live in the moment.
Teaching Ideas
While reading this book, I thought of an idea that would be a fun activity to do in the classroom based on this book. I would begin by having an interactive read-aloud of Memory Jars in my classroom. We would discuss why we may want to save or “hold onto” certain memories or objects. At the end, each student would get their own memory jar worksheet, in which they would write and/or draw their favorite memory from the school year.
Recommended Reading Level
Birth-PreK, Grade 01, Grade 02, Grade 03
