Sugar on Snow

Sometime in early March, the cry of Sap's Rising can be heard in rural New England. In this lovely picture book, a father, his two sons, and one dog rise (very early) to the occasion and set off at dawn to the sugar bush to begin the process. Rossiter paints the action so that it is both personal and factual; we see the entire family involved ???????????????????????????????????????????????? Mom preparing the meals, Dad steering the big John Deere tractor through the fields, and the two sons, Seth and Ethan, learning how to steer, collecting the buckets, and replacing them on the spouts and, of course, the loyal hound Chloe (probably the only dog so named on any farm in New England) trotting along for the ride. Everyone participates in the hard work ???????????????????????????????????????????????? hauling the buckets full of sap to the holding tank ???????????????????????????????????????????????? and also in the fun work ???????????????????????????????????????????????? reducing forty gallons of sap to one gallon of syrup in a big evaporator in the steamy sugarhouse. And, of course, testing and tasting the syrup. Continually.

Brothers Ethan and Seth spend a long day helping their parents gather sap and make maple syrup when March brings the first hint of spring to their New England farm. Includes a legend of how Native Americans first began to make and use maple syrup.