Taste of Blackberries - Softcover

Smith, Doris Buchanan

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0590324373 ISBN 13: 9780590324373

Publisher: Scholastic, 1982

Synopsis

Jamie is special, full of surprises, unpredictable. He can get into trouble, and then out of it. He courts danger, and always escapes. And he has an answer for every impossible question.

But when something sudden and terrible happens to Jamie, his best friend has to face the tragedy alone. Now there are questions that not even Jamie could have answered. How could Jamie be alive one minute, and the next, gone forever? How can some things, like flowers or playing games in the sun or the taste of the blackberries Jamie loved, go on without him - and still be so full of joy and pleasure?

About this title

About the Author

DORIS BUCHANAN SMITH (June 1, 1934 - August 8, 2002) was an award-winning American author of children's books distinguished for their realism. The first contemporary children's book author to deal with the difficult subject of death (A TASTE OF BLACKBERRIES), Smith also tackled divorce, obesity (LAST WAS LLOYD), juvenile delinquency, unwed mothers (RETURN TO BITTER CREEK), dyslexia, and child abuse (TOUGH CHAUNCEY), in a series of books that were praised for their sensitivity and relevance.

Review

"The sensitivity with which the attendant sorrow and guilt are treated makes this an outstanding book. It blazed the way for the many other grief books that quickly followed, but few have approached the place of honor this one holds."  Jim Trelease, The Read-Aloud Handbook, Sixth Edition, 2006

"Smith deals honestly and emphatically with the range of emotions... the story is not, however, an elegy; but a celebration of the continuity of the life-death cycle." The Atlanta Journal, 1973, Cynthia Westway

"It will be difficult to find a children's book this autumn by a new author as good as Doris Buchanan Smith's A Taste of Blackberries."  Times Literary Supplement, 1975, David Rees

"Rightfully viewed, along with Katherine Paterson's Bridge to Terabithia, 1977, as one of the seminal children's books on the subject of death."  School Library Journal, Ann Welton, 2002

About this edition

• Publisher: Scholastic
• Publication date: 1982
• ISBN 10: 0590324373
• ISBN 13: 9780590324373
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 112