Customer Reviews

Sugaring

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If you've need had the chance to make maple sryup for yourself then this book will be the closest way to experience the joy of winter in New England. Once again Nora and Gramps have a farm adventure that makes you wish you lived with them! The beautful pictures show details in the horses that jump out at you. Our 5 year old loves all these books and even the one year old with sit and point out Bonnie on every page. A great family book.

Nora helps her grampa gather sap to make maple syrup. Together, the collect the sap and pour it into big buckets. They pour the big buckets into a tank on a horse drawn sleigh, and the horses haul the tank down to the sugar shack. Nora is concerned that the horses get a maple treat to reward them for their hard work. The book is quite informative and engaging. The story is not at all scary. The book has about 1000 words.

Nora and her grandfather, with the help of two horses, tap the maple trees on their Vermont farm and boil the sap into syrup. At one point Gramp leaves Nora alone, and she adds a drop of cream when the syrup boils up, preventing it from boiling out of the pan. She also takes initiative to share sap and syrup with the horses.

The family members are dressed in modern clothes, but their practice is an old one, as is their equipment. Haas' writing is excellent, and Smith's evocative watercolor paintings vividly render the crisp outdoor cold, which contrasts with the steamy indoor warmth in the boiling shed. Nora's generosity toward the horses is reminiscent of biblical admonitions for people to care for their animals that serve them (Deuteronomy 25:4; Proverbs 12:10). The relational bond between grandparents and grandchild is nearly tangible, and Nora's participation in this exciting grown-up work is an excellent example of the privileges that come with responsibility. This is an excellent story for helping children understand how maple syrup is made.

In this story Gramp and Nora gather sap from the trees and take it back to the sugar shack with the help of two horses. We learn about the process of evaporating the water out of the sap in order to make syrup. Meanwhile Nora is concerned that the horses receive a treat for all of their hard work. Eventually they are given Maple sugar.

Plenty of detail is given regarding the sugar making process, which is why I picked up the book from the library.

The illustrations aren't quite as detailed as other maple sugaring books but they are just as delightful. And most New Englanders will be thrilled to see that Gramps wears a blue baseball cap with a distinct "B" in the middle (that's Boston Red Sox, in case you didn't know).