Great news for fans of Blueberries for Sal, by Robert McCloskey -- and really, who isn't? We've been trying doggedly and unsuccessfully for months to get this book back in the store. Turns out the publisher was negotiating with McCloskey's estate for the rights to continue publishing his books, and in the interim, the publisher's corporate council told them they had to take Blueberries off the market.
Last Thursday an agreement was reached, and Viking Children's Books plans to print 50,000 new copies of Blueberries, which should be available in late May or early June. The book will have a jacket and cream-colored stock, and they are using a first-edition copy of the book to "re-originate" the book's art to replicate the original colors as closely as possible.
In other Robert McCloskey news, Bostonians breathed a collective sigh of relief earlier this week when one of the duckling statues from Boston's Public Garden was safely recovered after having been stolen this past Sunday. The bronze duck, named Pack, and the rest of its bronze family are based on the ducks from McCloskey's Caldecott Medal-winning Make Way for Ducklings, originally published by Viking in 1941.
Boy am I glad I didn't hear about this until 'Blueberries for Sal' was safely on it's way to being reprinted. Our very favorite (and that's saying a lot) McCloskey book. Kerplink, kerplank, kerplunk!
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