The Great Fruit-Picking Adventure

How to decide when friends want different things | 4 min read

In Feathernest Woods, the families were getting ready for the Spring Picnic.
Everyone was bringing something special to share.

One sunny morning, Mama Bear found the children playing by the pond.
“Have you decided what you will bring to the picnic?” she asked.

The children looked at each other.
Then they all spoke at once.
“We can’t cook!” said Lela.
“We are too small,” said Fred.
“I don’t know any recipes,” Bobby added.

Mama Bear smiled.
“That may be true,” she said.
“But maybe there is something else you can bring.”

Fred the Frog gave a big hop.
“I know!” he said.
“We can pick fruit!”

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The children’s eyes lit up.

“Blueberries!” said Sissy.
“They are juicy and beautiful.”

“Bananas!” said Lela.
“They are sweet.”

“Apples,” said Bobby.
“They smell nice.”

“Strawberries!” Fred shouted.
“They are easy to eat!”

Soon, everyone was talking at once again.
“We all like different fruits,” Bobby said.

Sissy’s tail flicked.
“I have an idea,” she said.
“What if we pick all the fruits?”

“All of them?” Bobby asked.

“Yes!” Sissy said.
“We can make one big fruit salad.”
“A fruit salad!” Lela cheered.

They picked up their baskets and hurried off together.

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First, they visited the blueberry bushes.
Fred grabbed a handful of blueberries.
Plop!
Some of the blueberries slipped through his fingers.

He tried again.
Squish!
One blueberry popped.
Fred looked at his fingers.
They were blue.

Sissy crouched beside him.
“Try picking them one by one,” she suggested.

Fred carefully picked again.
Pluck. Pluck.
Before long, the basket was full of shiny blueberries.

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Next, they visited the banana tree.
A huge bunch of bananas hung from a branch.
Lela lifted it carefully with her trunk.

But suddenly—
Bonk!
One banana bumped her right on the head.

Lela burst into laughter.
“That banana surprised me!” she giggled.
The others laughed too.

Fred climbed carefully up the tree while the others held the bunch steady below.

Soon they had plenty of bananas in their basket.

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Next, they walked to the apple tree.
The apples hung high above them.
Very high.

Sissy jumped.
Miss.

Fred puffed out his chest.
“I am an expert jumper,” he announced.
“Watch this!”

Boing!
He bounced.

Boing!
He bounced higher.

Then—
BOING!
Fred bumped the branch.

The whole tree shook.
Thump!
Thump!
Thump!
Apples tumbled down onto the grass.

The children cheered as they gathered the bright red apples into the basket.

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Last, they climbed Strawberry Hill.

Bobby carefully picked strawberries into his basket.
But one small strawberry slipped away.
It rolled down the hill.
Then another rolled after it.
Soon, strawberries were rolling everywhere.

“Oh no!” Bobby cried.
“The strawberries are escaping!”

Everyone rushed after them.
Sissy caught one.
Fred leaped onto another.
Lela stopped two with her trunk.

At last, all the strawberries were safely tucked inside the basket.

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The children carried their baskets back to Mama Bear’s house.

“Will you help us make a fruit salad?” Sissy asked.
“That’s a wonderful idea,” Mama Bear said.

Together they washed the fruit.
Mama Bear cut the apples and bananas.

The children dropped everything into a big bowl.
Shiny blueberries.
Sweet bananas.
Bright strawberries.
Crisp apple pieces.

It looked delicious.
Everyone’s favorite fruit was inside.
And somehow, the fruit salad tasted even better than just one fruit alone.

Because in Feathernest Woods,
the best things are the ones friends share together.

The End

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The fruit salad is ready for the Spring Picnic.
But Fred the Frog is about to discover that helping at the picnic table was not as easy as he thought. You can read the next story in the series here.

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➡️ Read all the stories in the Feathernest Woods Spring Picnic Series

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This story is part of the Feathernest Woods collection
For older children, explore the Silverbrook Valley collection

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