Berry Song
This was a bit of a hard decision how to think about this story. There is Tlingit religion interwoven in the story - “everything has spirit” - and it was difficult to explain to my little one.
On a less serious note, the entire story is about picking berries, which is a really fun thing to do, but we also wanted to wait a little to put that idea of picking wild berries in my little one’s mind as wild berries can be very toxic. My dog died when we were kids from eating very pretty but very toxic berries.
But I was torn, because if you can separate and explain both of those concepts to your little one, the idea of being in the outdoors and picking and eating berries along with very dreamlike, colorful and pretty illustrations, the book is a great book. We really enjoyed the illustrations. We honestly enjoyed these illustrations better than many of the Caldecott medal winners.
This book was truly on the border of our categories and some readers may really enjoy this book - especially the introduction of a different culture as the author writes about her life in the last pages.
Cautions: In order to let your little one process this one properly, you do have to explain religion and the concept of spirit and caution about how many wild berries can be toxic.
