Written by: Emily Pearson and Fumi Kosaka
First line: One ordinary day, skipping on her way home from her ordinary school, she passed an ordinary vacant lot filled with ordinary bushes growing ordinary blue and juicy luscious lovely berries.
Why you should read this book: Setting aside the fact that there is nothing ordinary about a vacant lot full of viable blueberry bushes ready for harvest, this is an introduction for very small children to the "pay it forward" philosophy that suggests doing good deeds can have a magnificent and positive "ripple effect" in the community, and that anyone, regardless of skill or ability, has the power to do good in the world. Ordinary Mary bakes the ordinary blueberries into some ordinary muffins and leaves them for a neighbor, who is then inspired to do good deeds for five people, all of whom are then inspired to do good deeds for five other people. You get the picture: in the end, the goodness comes back to Mary, and she is a recipient of the fruit her own good deed, making this a satisfying read for small children.
Why you shouldn't read this book: It's cute for kids but it's not for cynics, who know that no good deed goes unpunished.
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