Quickberry quackberry, pick me a blackberry! The title, color scheme, and graphics used in this project are all borrowed or inspired by the iconic children's book Jamberry by Bruce Degen. As a child, this was one of my favorite books. The illustration style is the perfect amount of fantastical and whimsical, while still maintaining crucial elements of reality. The various colorways of the book are what I love the most about it - many rich and lively colors are represented. The story itself follows the playful odyssey of a homely bear and boy as they experience activities ripe with berries. In my opinion (all of my opinions are objective and based in scientific research), Jamberry is a simple idea wittily enhanced by weaving together masterful illustrations and clever rhymes.

The data in this project show different types of berry acreages, mapped by state (only the contiguous United States is shown, particularly because Hawaii and Alaska do not grow many berries). These data were obtained from the USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service, and each berry attribute is from 2017. The shapefiles used to express the United States are from Natural Earth.

Take a look around the map and the coordinated chart - hovering over each state will reveal the specific acreage grown for the berries, and the dropdown menu offers the opportunity to select different berries!