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Blueberry Girl
(W) Neil Gaiman (A) Charles Vess This gorgeous picture book pairs best-selling author Neil Gaiman's magical words and acclaimed artist Charles Vess's lovely paintings to offer hopeful wishes for young
32 pages, Paperback
First published March 10, 2009
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 708 reviews
December 28, 2020
"Ladies of light and ladies of darkness and ladies of never-you-mind, this is a prayer for a blueberry girl."
Neil Gaiman is one of my favorite authors, and I am delighted to have one of his books that I can share with my daughter (She's a bit young for Coraline or The Graveyard Book without some extreme trauma... or possible boredom because of the lack of interesting pictures to her). Blueberry Girl was one Gaiman initially wrote as a poem for his friend Tori Amos when she was pregnant with her daughter. The poem is beautifully written and now is illustrated with Charles Vess' wonderful art.
I'll be honest, while I adore this one, my daughter is only so-so on it. It's a little more complex, and not as silly as she personally would prefer. Frankly it's one of those books that is labeled a children's book, is perfectly acceptable for children, but was really written to appeal more to adults. Still she indulges me when I pull this one off the shelf, and will sometimes comment that she thinks the pictures are pretty. Particularly this one:
It's my favorite too. 4/5 stars.
Neil Gaiman is one of my favorite authors, and I am delighted to have one of his books that I can share with my daughter (She's a bit young for Coraline or The Graveyard Book without some extreme trauma... or possible boredom because of the lack of interesting pictures to her). Blueberry Girl was one Gaiman initially wrote as a poem for his friend Tori Amos when she was pregnant with her daughter. The poem is beautifully written and now is illustrated with Charles Vess' wonderful art.
I'll be honest, while I adore this one, my daughter is only so-so on it. It's a little more complex, and not as silly as she personally would prefer. Frankly it's one of those books that is labeled a children's book, is perfectly acceptable for children, but was really written to appeal more to adults. Still she indulges me when I pull this one off the shelf, and will sometimes comment that she thinks the pictures are pretty. Particularly this one:
It's my favorite too. 4/5 stars.
April 4, 2009
This book is beautifully written (of course, it's Neil Gaiman) and the illustrations are amazing... kind of a cross between Jamberry and Coraline. But I must say, I am starting to have a hard time with picture books that are written for adults but marketed to kids by appealing to their parents (does that make sense? because it did in my head when I wrote it). If you're going to write a book for kids, then write a book for kids... but if you're going to write a book for your good friend when she's having a baby, why package it as a children's book? It's not like Gaiman is the only one to pull this, and goodness knows he's probably the most skilled of all the writers who have attempted it, but I still find it a little hard to take.
October 28, 2015
O livro tem 10 páginas e eu fiquei com os olhos cheios d'água no final? Fiquei. É a prece e a poesia que eu gostaria de dar para a filha que eu pretendo ter um dia.
July 6, 2017
The first book I bought for my darling niece Adeline.
(The next one will be cat themed. The crazy cat aunt will be a GREAT influence.)
(The next one will be cat themed. The crazy cat aunt will be a GREAT influence.)
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November 8, 2017Sometimes the books you once read just... hit a bit different when you learn too much.
This one used to be a 2 star read.
My original review - cause some can separate the art and this book had rather good elements... but I'm really struggling here.
This one used to be a 2 star read.
My original review - cause some can separate the art and this book had rather good elements... but I'm really struggling here.
April 16, 2009
Well, I liked this book much better that I’d anticipated.
The illustrations are of a type that usually aren’t my favorite style, but I loved the paintings that have blue whales in them, including the very last picture, which is very full of a lot of what’s shown in all the previous pictures.
The rhyming poem that makes up the story really touched me, but I can’t help wondering if this is a book that will be appreciated much more by parents and others who love children, more than the children will, especially young children. I think elementary school students, maybe even upper elementary school students, will be more likely to enjoy this book than preschoolers.
I do think it’s wonderful that this poem was written for an actual child still in the womb and her pregnant mother, and it is an inspiring poem. I like the sentiments better than the execution though.
The illustrations are of a type that usually aren’t my favorite style, but I loved the paintings that have blue whales in them, including the very last picture, which is very full of a lot of what’s shown in all the previous pictures.
The rhyming poem that makes up the story really touched me, but I can’t help wondering if this is a book that will be appreciated much more by parents and others who love children, more than the children will, especially young children. I think elementary school students, maybe even upper elementary school students, will be more likely to enjoy this book than preschoolers.
I do think it’s wonderful that this poem was written for an actual child still in the womb and her pregnant mother, and it is an inspiring poem. I like the sentiments better than the execution though.
May 8, 2009
So filled with love are these pages, and so sincere the words. I read "Blueberry Girl" in Barnes and Noble and nearly cried there, sitting cross-legged on the floor among the bookshelves. It is a poetic ode to little girls everywhere and not in a "sugar and spice and everything nice" sort of way. Rather, Gaiman knows what really matters, and writing with a true tenderness rarely seen in his other work, he presents a baby girl with beautifully crafted wish for a childhood filled with joy and peace from which she can emerge a strong, independent, and proud young woman. Reading it, I felt that I was being let in on a great secret: what my parents must have hoped for me when I was born, what my father who died of cancer, must have wished for my life, knowing that he would not see me grow older than 22, what my grandfather, who died when I was six, must have pictured when he thought of me at sixteen, and what I will think and wonder when it's my turn to think and wonder about such things. "Blueberry Girl" is the sort of book that should be given as a gift at baby showers and cherished always on every little girl's bedside table.
January 16, 2019
The last books I've read were five-star books, so I am in a hangover and can't read properly. The only way is to read short ones before reading another heartbreaking book, so these less-than-fifty-page stories are just perfect in this case. And of course the illustrations capture the attention. Never mind that I'm not a ten-year-old. As C.S. Lewis said:
"But some day you will be old enough to start reading fairy tales again."
"But some day you will be old enough to start reading fairy tales again."
September 2, 2019
Written as a special gift for a friend who was pregnant with a little girl, Neil Gaiman's Blueberry Girl is a poetic wish for all sorts of blessings for the baby in question, both when she is a child, and as she grows into a woman. It begins with an invocation and prayer - "Ladies of light and ladies of darkness and ladies of never-you-mind, This is a prayer for a blueberry girl" - and goes on to express the hope that the girl will find the strength and wisdom to lead a good life.
This is the third picture-book I have read from the celebrated Neil Gaiman, following upon Instructions and Crazy Hair , and I have to say that it is the weakest of the three. I found the text rather awkward - it doesn't scan very well, and I can't imagine it making that appealing of a read-aloud - and thought that it missed the mark a bit. For a book that isn't story-centered, but is meant more as an inspirational meditation, I found myself oddly uninspired by the meditation. The artwork by Charles Vess is lovely - especially the scene with the whales! - but it wasn't enough to save this one. Recommended chiefly to Neil Gaiman fanatics who have to read everything he has written - everyone else can safely give it a miss.
This is the third picture-book I have read from the celebrated Neil Gaiman, following upon Instructions and Crazy Hair , and I have to say that it is the weakest of the three. I found the text rather awkward - it doesn't scan very well, and I can't imagine it making that appealing of a read-aloud - and thought that it missed the mark a bit. For a book that isn't story-centered, but is meant more as an inspirational meditation, I found myself oddly uninspired by the meditation. The artwork by Charles Vess is lovely - especially the scene with the whales! - but it wasn't enough to save this one. Recommended chiefly to Neil Gaiman fanatics who have to read everything he has written - everyone else can safely give it a miss.
August 21, 2018
Very sweet. We love Neil Gaiman. I’m so glad we gifted this one to my six-year-old Lamby.
December 4, 2023
This was beautiful. What a lovely poem 😍🙌🏽
February 4, 2010
I watched the video version, I have to be honest - I didn't like it.
I appreciate the good thoughts and words infused, but I didn't like "blueberry girl". There was no mention of the fruit in the story, why put it in the title?
It's not that I don't like blueberries, but I think naming a child after a fruit at least deserves a fruity kinda story. It makes more sense.
Else, it's disjointed and quite meaningless.
I didn't like the poetry/ prose either. They're supposed to be inspiring, lighthearted and dreamy - tickling a child's imagination, but I found it to be heavy and contrived. . . this isn't a kids' book at all; there's really little inspiration there; I feel it forced, and to add the title, which has no relation to the book, it's a blueberry bomb for me.
I appreciate the good thoughts and words infused, but I didn't like "blueberry girl". There was no mention of the fruit in the story, why put it in the title?
It's not that I don't like blueberries, but I think naming a child after a fruit at least deserves a fruity kinda story. It makes more sense.
Else, it's disjointed and quite meaningless.
I didn't like the poetry/ prose either. They're supposed to be inspiring, lighthearted and dreamy - tickling a child's imagination, but I found it to be heavy and contrived. . . this isn't a kids' book at all; there's really little inspiration there; I feel it forced, and to add the title, which has no relation to the book, it's a blueberry bomb for me.
August 24, 2015
Gaiman's poem is lovely and should be read as a tribute to little girls everywhere. My complaint is about the illustrations. It is just a niggling little thing, but it kept me from fully enjoying the book - the outlines around the girls and creatures drove me nuts. I think lovely watercolors bleeding into one another would have been more in keeping with the fairy tale tone of the narrative.
November 14, 2012
Some kind of poem for a baby girl. This would be a great gift for a daughter (well, I have a son, but I hope someday God will give me a daughter).
============Update 5.02.2019=============
I finally bought this book :D
And now that I have a daughter, I'll read this to her. Let's hope she won't tear the pages :))
============Update 5.02.2019=============
I finally bought this book :D
And now that I have a daughter, I'll read this to her. Let's hope she won't tear the pages :))
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September 5, 2024ممنونم برای وجود داشتن کتابهایی که باعث میشن رویاها، ممکن بهنظر بیان. کلماتی که برای یک ربع باعث میشن نگران نباشی. ممنونم
May 8, 2018
3.5/5
This book is essentially a wish for an unborn daughter.
This book is essentially a wish for an unborn daughter.
April 27, 2009
A picture book written by the author of Coraline and The Graveyard Book. My husband brought it into our room last night and said, "Have you read this book yet?" When I told him I hadn't, he said that unless I was a divorced woman in her 40's with a daughter that I was trying to slip some serious "women's power" to, I probably wouldn't like it. With that kind of review, I got right to work...and I hated it. Weird illustrations, strange story. Just skip the whole mess!
September 8, 2008
I read this in the library yesterday. Neil Gaiman wrote it for Tori's daughter, when Tori was still pregnant, several years ago. I really love this book, and the thoughtfulness of the poem, and illustrations by Charles Vess.
January 29, 2019
This is beautiful and perfect, a great message for all girls.
January 17, 2019
This reads like a poem and a prayer. It was written for the daughter of musician Tori Amos. Its very lovely.
April 10, 2017
151 - 2017
April 17, 2009
What is it that we hope for when we think of our daughters? That they grow up to be strong young women? That they find joy in the every day things of life? That they can weather the storms that we know are coming? How do we express our hope for our children?
These questions float around in all parents' heads. But Neil Gaiman has turned these thoughts into a wonderful poem. Gaiman wrote a lovely poem Blueberry Girl for a good friend who pregnant and having a daughter. Now he has published it, with beautiful illustrations by Charles Vess, as a children's book.
This poem is an ode to a mother's hopes for her daughter, but it's written in a lyrical way without being too sentimental or gooey. The rhythm of the poetry is beautiful - listen to Gaiman reading it in the video below to get a sense of how well it flows.
There are parts of the poem that girls will connect to, and others that mothers will smile at. Girls may like the references to fairy tales: “Keep her from spindles and sleeps at sixteen, let her stay waking and wise.” Mothers will smile at lines hoping that their girls overcome the "dull days of forty" and "false friends at fifteen." But this is my favorite part (interestingly, my daughter Katy also really liked these lines and the drawing showing a girl choosing her path):
"Words can be worrisome, people complex, motives and manners unclear,
Grant her the wisdom to choose her path right, free from unkindness and fear."
The best way to get a sense of the book is to listen to Neil Gaiman read it himself. Check out his You Tube video, with illustrations from the book and Gaiman reading it.
These questions float around in all parents' heads. But Neil Gaiman has turned these thoughts into a wonderful poem. Gaiman wrote a lovely poem Blueberry Girl for a good friend who pregnant and having a daughter. Now he has published it, with beautiful illustrations by Charles Vess, as a children's book.
This poem is an ode to a mother's hopes for her daughter, but it's written in a lyrical way without being too sentimental or gooey. The rhythm of the poetry is beautiful - listen to Gaiman reading it in the video below to get a sense of how well it flows.
There are parts of the poem that girls will connect to, and others that mothers will smile at. Girls may like the references to fairy tales: “Keep her from spindles and sleeps at sixteen, let her stay waking and wise.” Mothers will smile at lines hoping that their girls overcome the "dull days of forty" and "false friends at fifteen." But this is my favorite part (interestingly, my daughter Katy also really liked these lines and the drawing showing a girl choosing her path):
"Words can be worrisome, people complex, motives and manners unclear,
Grant her the wisdom to choose her path right, free from unkindness and fear."
The best way to get a sense of the book is to listen to Neil Gaiman read it himself. Check out his You Tube video, with illustrations from the book and Gaiman reading it.
September 1, 2010
As much as I love Neil Gaiman, I don't think this one came out all that well. The text seems to really be written from an adult perspective, as it has an element of time and refers to wishes for the child when she's thirty and forty. Wishes can be fine, but children dwell much more in the now rather than in a specific future. I also didn't like the pictures, despite a great dreamy, hopefully style to them. Sometimes the girl depicted was the same for a couple pages, and then she suddenly changes. I would have liked it better if every single one of the girls was different. I was also a little bothered by the illustration of the tweenaged girl holding a glowing pearl over her uterus. Sort of queasiness about babies growing up and their purpose is to make more babies or something. It feels like it should be beautiful, but isn't. In any case, the gutters seem oddly ill-considered and the type of illustration seems to change without rhyme or reason from page to page. The best part of the book is definitely Vess's sketch of himself and Gaiman in the flap at the end.
March 10, 2015
This is a perfect little volume. Simply perfect. These are Gaiman's wishes for, not a princess-y type girl, but a REAL girl, who will later be a real woman. These are the kind of blessings any female wants.
The Illustrations were soft, cloudy and whimsical. I loved every single page. The use of white space was just as important as color and I could flip through these pages for a long time and not tire of looking.
As an aside, the dedications from Gaiman and Charles Vess were precious.
Neil Gaiman - I wrote this for Tori, and for Tash, when she was only a bump and a due date. With love, Neil.
Charles Vess - This one is for my mom, who was always there for me. My first admirer and critic. All my love, from your son, Charles.
I think this is going to be my new go-to gift for little girls and mother's expecting daughters.
The Illustrations were soft, cloudy and whimsical. I loved every single page. The use of white space was just as important as color and I could flip through these pages for a long time and not tire of looking.
As an aside, the dedications from Gaiman and Charles Vess were precious.
Neil Gaiman - I wrote this for Tori, and for Tash, when she was only a bump and a due date. With love, Neil.
Charles Vess - This one is for my mom, who was always there for me. My first admirer and critic. All my love, from your son, Charles.
I think this is going to be my new go-to gift for little girls and mother's expecting daughters.
July 8, 2017
Sweet.
November 8, 2017
I honestly feel like Neil Gaiman could never disappoint me, but this one was especially beautiful
March 26, 2019
This was such a sweet small song of hope for little girls as they grow.
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July 14, 2026goodreads recommends me neil gaiman books every other day (today this one) and it's like bro his books are in the garbage and i'm never digging them back out
April 25, 2017
This is a beautiful book, both in poetry and in illustration and in meaning.
Neil Gaiman wrote this as a gift to a friend upon announcing she was pregnant with a little girl. It is a heartfelt and earnest message full of hopes and dreams. In many ways, it is written for adults in mind, but this has not stopped my daughter from requesting it. The poetry and the illustrations are captivating. I suppose it helps that she adores blueberries, too, but she'll pay attention to the parts without blueberries. So there is that.
Gaiman's strength as a compelling author is that his work embraces the spiritual and this shines through. The trappings of this piece are pagan, but it celebrates the spirit of a young girl and her parents' hopes and desires for her. This book celebrates just what a wonderful thing it is to be a girl and hopes for a life of dreams, wonder, and adventure tempered with wisdom and discernment.
Clearly I shouldn't cut onions before reading this book. I keep having to rub my eyes.
Neil Gaiman wrote this as a gift to a friend upon announcing she was pregnant with a little girl. It is a heartfelt and earnest message full of hopes and dreams. In many ways, it is written for adults in mind, but this has not stopped my daughter from requesting it. The poetry and the illustrations are captivating. I suppose it helps that she adores blueberries, too, but she'll pay attention to the parts without blueberries. So there is that.
Gaiman's strength as a compelling author is that his work embraces the spiritual and this shines through. The trappings of this piece are pagan, but it celebrates the spirit of a young girl and her parents' hopes and desires for her. This book celebrates just what a wonderful thing it is to be a girl and hopes for a life of dreams, wonder, and adventure tempered with wisdom and discernment.
Clearly I shouldn't cut onions before reading this book. I keep having to rub my eyes.
February 14, 2024
Beautiful and Touching
The words and illustrations are lovely and dynamic, much as we’d like to imagine all our girls will be throughout their lives. I very much enjoyed the poetic flow and honest sentiments of Neil Gaiman’s words. My heart is full after reading this delightful book… heartwarming and aspirational for people of any age.
The words and illustrations are lovely and dynamic, much as we’d like to imagine all our girls will be throughout their lives. I very much enjoyed the poetic flow and honest sentiments of Neil Gaiman’s words. My heart is full after reading this delightful book… heartwarming and aspirational for people of any age.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 708 reviews