Freda loves blueberries but she cannot eat them all, so her grandma teaches her to save them in jars to last longer. Then Freda has an idea, what about if she saves all her favorite things in jars? Like food, toys, plants, his friend? A song? Maybe she cannot save everything in the jars. ( )

Independent Reading Level: 3-5
Awards: A Booklist Editors' Choice Winner for 2021

Independent Reading Level: 3-5
Awards: A Booklist Editors' Choice Winner for 2021

Reading Level: 9+
Caldecott Nominee

Freda and her gran pick juicy, sweet blueberries in July. Freda enjoys them as much as she can but worries that she can’t eat them all at once. Gran consoles her and tells her she can make jams and store them in jars. Freda gets excited by that idea, and she collects every sweet memory, person, and thing in a jar. As a result, her home is filled with jars of precious memories. What happens to Freda and her memory jars?

We picked this book for its beautiful cover. The book discusses a child’s desire to store all her sweet memories in a jar. The idea of preserving the past in a jar is interesting. Though the story has a bit of a dark side, it ends reasonably well with Freda willing to move on. The illustrations are gorgeous - we warn you, you might collect your jars.

Memory Jars by Vera Brosgol is a brilliantly illustrated book that narrates an amusing story about a little girl who learns to move on in life while cherishing the past. ( )