One More Jar of Jam

by Michelle Sumovich, Gracey Zhang (Illustrator)

Overview

A sparkling and deeply felt story of love, loss, renewal—and jam!—offering  a gentle reminder of the cyclical nature of the world around us.

If you ever have a mulberry tree, you’ll climb branches and shake with all your might. You’ll gather berries and smush fruits, while your dad boils jars in a tall, silver pot sweating and happy as the kitchen fills with steam. Because if you’ve ever had a mulberry tree, you know that the sweetest things are worth waiting for.

Sumptuous text and deliciously expressive illustrations come together to form a gentle ode to nature’s bounty, to patience, and to one girl’s lifelong connection to the tree in her yard.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780593112663
Publisher:	Penguin Young Readers Group
Publication date:	08/01/2023
Sold by:	Penguin Group
Format:	eBook
Pages:	40
File size:	16 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Michelle Sumovich has a background working in bookstores and library program development for young children, as well as years of experience writing lyrics and music for children and adults. She lives in Portland with her husband, daughter, and cats. This is her debut picture book. 
 
 

Gracey Zhang is a freelance illustrator and animator. She was born and raised in Vancouver, Canada, and received her BFA in Illustration from the Rhode Island School of Design. She is now based in New York City. 
 
 
 

Editorial Reviews

06/12/2023

In a picture book debut, Sumovich writes a second-person ode to a beloved mulberry tree that invites readers right in. Via warmly stroked spreads, Zhang (When Rubin Plays) paints the child narrator, portrayed with brown skin, perched in the tree’s branches: “If you ever have a mulberry tree,” the text begins, “you’ll learn/ there’s nowhere sweeter to sit/ than on branches heavy with warm berries.” Beginning with the same initial line, successive verses describe jam making, and jam jar counting, too, as the precious jars dwindle, “Gone to sticky Grandma’s table./ Gone to sweeten neighbors’ bread.” When a storm topples the tree (“Its thick trunk stretched across the lawn,/ broken and cracked and done”) the summer proves as “fruitless and dry as toast.” But the following spring reveals a miracle that might just extend to the titular “one more jar.” Knowledge that comes with the caretaking and harvesting of trees, a seasonal scale, and affectionate images of an interracial family who share joy and loss together all flavor this personal-feeling tale. Ages 4–8. Agent (for author and illustrator): Hannah Mann, Writers House. (Aug.)

Publishers Weekly

Knowledge that comes with the caretaking and harvesting of trees, a seasonal scale, and affectionate images of an interracial family who share joy and loss together all flavor this personal-feeling tale.” –Publishers Weekly

“A quiet, heartfelt picture book.” –Booklist

From the Publisher

11/01/2023

PreS-Gr 2—Evoking sweet, simple pleasures in life, Sumovich pens a celebration of growth, family, and friends. A much-loved tree provides a place to sit, shelter, and food for birds, and jam—lots of jam. The unnamed child addresses readers through all the seasons in the life of a family and the tree, even the storm that blows the tree over. Still, the rings on the trunk can be counted to mark a birthday or two. The child misses the experiences that the tree provided throughout its life, but can something new grow from the loss? The story is told in comforting prose as well as through Zhang's detailed and flowing illustrations. Full-bleed pictures coupled with detail-filled vignettes pull readers into the visuals, which support and deepen the story. VERDICT A worthy purchase with an eye-catching cover, this is sure to intrigue young and old alike. Sadly, a good jam recipe is not included.—Cassie Veselovsky

School Library Journal

2023-05-24
“If you ever have a mulberry tree, you’ll learn / there’s nowhere sweeter to sit / than on branches, heavy with warm berries.”

Cycles and regeneration are significant themes in this tale that traces a child’s love of jam and the nearby mulberry tree that produces the fruit for it. A repeating refrain (“If you ever have a mulberry tree…”) gives the text a lilting, poetic quality, while loose and colorful illustrations evoke a warm, rural setting. The text is narrated in second person and addressed to a brown-skinned child who lives with a light-skinned father. The two make jam together, step by step, from adding beads and baubles to the tree (an attempt to keep birds away) to collecting berries that are shared (just a little) with those birds to gathering, crushing, and boiling them, which ultimately results in many jars of delicious jam, just right for sharing with brown-skinned Grandma and a diverse group of neighbors. When a storm knocks down the tree, the child grieves, but when spring comes, the young protagonist finds ways to celebrate at its stump with loved ones. So is this the end? An emphatic no! “If you ever have a mulberry tree, you’ll gasp, / when suddenly silent, shiny leaves burst— / From stems / to shoots / to branches.” (This book was reviewed digitally.)

A warm tale of grief, resilience, trees, and, of course, jam. (Picture book. 3-8)

Kirkus Reviews