School Library Journal Starred Review (Wed Dec 01 00:00:00 CST 2021)

PreS-Gr 2 A moving treatise on how the past and present intertwine. The book opens with the young, unnamed protagonist in the present, enjoying time in the blueberry bushes at her grandmother's house. At the same time, she is also remembering a camping trip with her mother. Subsequent pages describe her grandmother, mother, and even their cat's current activities, as well as a past memory they are pondering. A heartwarming conclusion of celebrated interconnectedness follows, sure to spark discussion among readers about memories, time, and more. In this story, Goodale tackles what can be a complex topic and presents it in an accessible, approachable manner for young readers. Double-page spreads of colorful mixed media illustrations use an alternating color scheme to limn past versus the present. The back matter includes a recipe for making blueberry ink. VERDICT. A multigenerational masterpiece, and outstanding addition to any collection. Olivia Gorecke, Cape May Cty. Lib., Ocean View, NJ

ALA Booklist (Thu Apr 28 00:00:00 CDT 2022)

This unusual picture book illustrates the creation and reiteration of memories. A girl is picking blueberries outside her grandmother's house, and also remembering details of a camping trip she took with her mother. Nearby, her grandmother is washing dishes, and also recalling a childhood incident in her mother's garden. Meanwhile, the girl's mother is walking down the hill toward her daughter, and also recollecting when she was a girl sorting blueberries and her sister made her laugh. Decades later, the writer-illustrator remembers that childhood blueberry-picking day and muses briefly on the memory: "We are here . . . / . . . and also there. Always." This book looks at the interplay of experience and memory in our minds. The text is succinct and matter-of-fact, while the illustrations, created using monotype, gouache, and blueberry ink, imaginatively depict present and past events, sometimes on the same double-page spread, with the present in full color and the past in black, white, and shades of purple. A simple recipe for blueberry ink is appended. A quiet picture book that invites children to think about memories.

Horn Book (Fri Apr 01 00:00:00 CDT 2022)

Goodale (Windows, rev. 11/17; Under the Lilacs, rev. 7/20) presents a gentle rumination on space and time, memory, and the enduring love of family. "Today, I am at my gramma's house, high on the hill, amongst the blueberry bushes," begins the adolescent narrator, her gaze open-heartedly trained on readers from a sun-dappled spread. "And also..." Now, with a page-turn, and in a muted purply palette, she's shown as a younger child: "...I am remembering camping with Mama," with a small adventure in the woods. The story continues, shifting to the grandmother: "Today, my gramma is at the kitchen, watching me from the window. And also... / ...she is remembering being a little girl in her mother's garden." The girl's mother's recollections (and those of the grandmother's cat) follow, before returning to the narrator. Now, as an adult, she's writing this very book while recalling -- and re-illustrating, with subtle differences -- her time at her grandmother's. The book concludes: "We are all here...and also there. / Always." It's a heady observation made somewhat more concrete and accessible by Goodale's finely attuned sense of childlike wonder and the illustrations' (made from monoprint, gouache, and blueberry ink) thoughtful compositions. A red bird on every spread helps situate viewers in place and time, past and present. Elissa Gershowitz

Kirkus Reviews

Sitting among blueberry bushes on a hillside overlooking her grandmother's yellow house, a young girl remembers camping with her mother in the very same spot as a toddler.From her perch, the girl can see her gramma at the yellow house's kitchen window. Gramma is washing dishes and silently reminiscing about childhood days spent in her mother's garden. As the girl's mother (Gramma's daughter) comes down the hill to fetch her, she, too, is lost in memories-of fun times spent sorting berries in the yellow house's kitchen when she was younger. In this fashion, the narrative swings back and forth among the three characters, with the artwork alternating between grayscale spreads showing scenes from their interconnected memories and full-color spreads depicting the present. Readers watch the trio-and the grandmother's cat-grow older; but, some things, comfortingly, never change. Wherever the characters are (literally or figuratively) in the here and now, the textual refrain points out that they are "also there," meaning the intangible place where memories lie, untouched by the passage of time. Spare lines of imagistic text on each double-spread page poignantly capture brief moments in time, haikulike, and create a dreamy rhythm well suited to the nostalgic narrative. Goodale's illustrations, executed on kitaka paper using monoprint, gouache, and (fittingly) blueberry ink, are gentle and quiet with a homespun feel. All characters are White.A simple but profound meditation on memory and its power to foster continuity and connectedness. (recipe) (Picture book. 4-7)

Publishers Weekly (Fri Oct 06 00:00:00 CDT 2023)

Snatches of memory and present-day moments twine in this telescopic story about three generations’ worth of blueberry-related childhood recollections. Alternating scenes created in gouache, blueberry ink, and monoprint techniques, Goodale’s speaker describes a day at Gramma’s house: Gramma watches at the window, Mama walks down the hill, and a plump orange cat named Nutmeg rolls in the grass. As the pages turn, each figure “also” reminisces about their own youthful experiences (Mama “is remembering sorting blueberries”). Delicate paintings of past and present carefully echo one another through the white-skinned intergenerational family’s positions and expressions, while a bold red bird acts as a further connective thread, representing a subtle search-and-find effect. And a layered conclusion offers another framing, evoking the way place and circumstance can yield connection. Includes a blueberry ink recipe. Ages 4–7. (Feb.)