Thunder and Lightnin'

Henry is a little boy living in a small, wood-framed house along the road leading to the blackberry forest. And if there’s one thing Henry loves, it’s blackberries. Blackberry jam, blackberry candy, blackberry pies, blackberry pancakes, and blackberry tea—anything and everything with that delicious fruit in it is his favorite. When Mama says during breakfast to go and pick two buckets of blackberries so she can make two blackberry pies, he’s out the door leaving his canine companions Thunder and Lightnin’ behind and without paying attention to the last thing Mama says—the part about only picking berries in the yard. Why would he worry about that? Well, Henry gets to picking those delicious berries—and the pickings are good! He tries hard to make sure he fills up both buckets by singing himself a song: “Pick a berry! Eat a berry!” That way, he gets to eat some now AND have blackberry pie later. But after he’s picked ALL the ripe berries in and around the yard, one look in his buckets tells him the song didn’t really remain the same. It had gone from “Pick a berry! Eat a berry!” to “Pick a berry! Eat a berry! Eat a berry! Eat a berry!” Which is why his buckets are pretty much empty! Uh-oh. Mama can’t make blackberry pies without blackberries—he’s got to think fast. There are plenty of ripe blackberries in the forest. Problem is, sometimes when you get started doing something you love, you forget all about what you’re doing—or where you are… A lighthearted and spooky adventure all children can enjoy, Jeneen Poole’s debut children’s book is as exciting as it is instructional. Inspired by a rich, southern storytelling tradition, Thunder and Lightnin’ is the perfect teaching tool for parents as they build the importance of following instructions within their children.