Memory Jars

by Vera Brosgol

Overview

Memory Jars is a perfect gift for graduation! A book about saving your favorite memories and keeping them close forever, from Vera Brosgol, creator of the Caldecott Honor book Leave Me Alone!

Freda is devastated when she can’t eat all the delicious blueberries she’s picked. She has to wait a whole year before they’re back, and she doesn’t want to lose them! Then Gran reminds her that they can save blueberries in a jar, as jam. So Freda begins to save all her favorite things. But it turns out that saving everything also means she can’t enjoy anything, and Freda realizes that some things are best saved as memories.

Memory Jars playfully encourages children to savor life's ephemeral and enduring moments in funny and engaging ways. An ideal read aloud for those mourning a loved one, for teachers celebrating the end of the school year with students, or any time a child’s “frustrated by a good thing being over too soon.” -Booklist, starred review

“A lovably quirky girl takes “preserving” to a whole new level. Add Brosgol’s signature big-eyed characters, a touch of dark humor and a mouthwatering jam recipe, and you’ve got all the ingredients for a sequel." -The New York Times

A Booklist Editors' Choice Winner

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781250840486
Publisher:	Roaring Brook Press
Publication date:	05/25/2021
Sold by:	Macmillan
Format:	eBook
Pages:	48
Sales rank:	817,924
File size:	53 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Vera Brosgol was born in Moscow, Russia, in 1984 and moved to the United States when she was five. Her three graphic novels, Anya’s Ghost, Be Prepared, and Plain Jane and the Mermaid, were published by First Second. She wrote and illustrated several picture books including The Little Guys and Memory Jars, and her debut Leave Me Alone! was a 2017 Caldecott Honor Book. She’s also worked on storyboards for several animated films, including Coraline, Kubo and the Two Strings, and Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio. She lives with her dog, Omar, in Portland, Oregon, where she puts all kinds of things into jars every summer.

Vera Brosgol was born in Moscow, Russia, in 1984 and moved to the United States when she was five. Her two graphic novels, Anya's Ghost and Be Prepared, were published by First Second, and her debut picture book Leave Me Alone! was a 2017 Caldecott Honor book. She’s also worked in story on several animated films, including Coraline and Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio.
She lives in Portland, Oregon with her dog Omar, a mere two hours from the sea.

Editorial Reviews

★ 03/08/2021

Young Freda lives with her sensible Gran, who reassures her when Freda can’t finish eating the perfectly ripe blueberries they pick: “Calm down, French Fry,” Gran says. “We can put them in a jar and save them.” Sure enough, when they’re made into jam and preserved in glass, they’re just as luscious. Wondering if other ephemeral things can be similarly captured, Freda tries placing a freshly baked cookie in a jar, then an unmelted ice pop, before branching out to more consequential fare. Caldecott Hon- oree Brosgol (Leave Me Alone!) pursues this comic conceit right to its sinister edge, moving from laughs into thought-provoking images: in one, Freda stands on a ladder and “took the stars while she was at it.” Freda’s experience of grief and yearning as she remembers her late grandfather, a blueberry jam fan, gives the story an additional layer of meaning. Spreads combine vibrant color and sure, polished lines while portraying a compassionate intergenerational relationship between two Black family members. With poignant force, Brosgol’s delicious fable conveys the lesson that some things must be savored in the moment. Includes a blueberry jam recipe. Ages 4–8. Author’s agency: Hansen Literary. (May)

Publishers Weekly

★“With poignant force, Brosgol’s delicious fable conveys the lesson that some things must be savored in the moment.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review

★“This playful, off-kilter story will resonate with any kid frustrated by a good thing being over too soon.” —Booklist, starred review

“Visual humor and genuine charm at every turn.” —Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

★"Readers will delight in Freda’s journey to keep her memories safe, as well as her subsequent understanding of what she has done, in a book that would be at home in all collections." —School Library Journal, starred review

"Upset that she can’t eat every bucketful of blueberries she picked with her gran all in the same afternoon (“they were the best right then and they’d never be any better”), a lovably quirky girl takes “preserving” to a whole new level. Add Brosgol’s signature big-eyed characters, a touch of dark humor and a mouthwatering jam recipe, and you’ve got all the ingredients for a sequel." -The New York Times

The Little Guys:

★“[A] pointed exploration of the notion that collective action just becomes mob rule without a moral foundation.” —Booklist, starred review

“Brosgol introduces an unexpected idea and adds a clever, collaborative resolution . . . Expertly paced and very funny.” —Publishers Weekly

“Brisk and clever . . . Oddly charming.” —Kirkus

Caldecott Honor book Leave Me Alone!:

“Funny is hard; Brosgol makes it look easy.” —NPR, Best Books of 2016

“Both classic and ultracontemporary . . . especially for children who like to shout along.” —The New York Times Book Review

“So well-executed, it feels almost unfair that this is Brosgol’s first foray into picture books.” —The Huffington Post

“Hilariously mingles elements both folkloric and intergalactic.” —The Wall Street Journal

★“Brosgol is a master.” —School Library Journal, starred review

★“Delightful.” —Publisher's Weekly, starred review

From the Publisher

★ 05/01/2021

K-Gr 3—A sweet story of a child's attempts to capture all of her favorite memories in one place. Freda is a young girl who likes spending time with her gran, and among the activities they enjoy together is picking berries. When Freda realizes she can't eat all of the berries they pick in one day, her gran shows her how to make jam to save the fruit. This is something Freda remembers her grandfather enjoying and she gets the idea to preserve other things in the same way, starting with a warm chocolate chip cookie. When it works, she moves on to storing her other favorite things, including her best friend Jack, whose family is about to move away, the full moon, and a unicorn-shaped cloud. She eventually realizes that by storing these things away, she isn't getting to experience or enjoy them. Brosgol (Leave Me Alone!) uses gouache illustrations to bring Freda's world to life. Freda and her grandmother are Black, while Jack is white. The illustrations are bright and colorful at the beginning of the story but get darker and gloomy as Freda fills her jars. Text and pictures work together to convey Freda's feelings of excitement, happiness, and eventual worry. VERDICT Readers will delight in Freda's journey to keep her memories safe, as well as her subsequent understanding of what she has done, in a book that would be at home in all collections.—Sara Thomas, New Castle P.L., DE

School Library Journal

2021-05-03
A young girl learns that she can store all sorts of things in jars—but should she?

It’s summer, and Freda and her gran, who are both Black, are out picking blueberries. There and on the journey home, Freda stuffs herself silly with blueberries but wails, “I can’t do it! I can’t eat them all!” Gran tells her not to worry because they’ll make blueberry jam—a favorite of Freda’s deceased grandpa—so they can enjoy blueberries, even in the winter. If blueberries can be kept for later enjoyment in jars, Freda wonders, what else can be saved? Freda starts small (with a warm cookie) and soon graduates to bigger things (her friend Jack, who’s moving to Arizona) and on to items significantly larger than that (the moon) and even the nonphysical (music). After Freda puts Gran in a jar (with consent!) she finally begins to see that it may be better to enjoy some things in the moment. Maybe. Brosgol’s accomplished line-and-color art is bright and engaging, and it neatly pairs with the text, giving the illustrations space to tell the story not expressed in words. In close-ups, however, Freda’s drawn with wide eyes and prominent reddish lips, a depiction that’s uncomfortably reminiscent of caricature. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

A charming concept undermined by unfortunate visuals. (recipe) (Picture book. 4-8)

Kirkus Reviews