Sugaring
PreSchool-K?This third book featuring young Nora and her grandparents finds them engaged in the late winter ritual of sugaring on their small Vermont family farm. With its comforting tone, the smoothly written story is about giving and caring as well as the process of converting sap into syrup. As Nora helps her grandfather pour the sap from the trees, she attempts to give the patient workhorses a taste. Her efforts to reward them mirror the stages of the syrup: it flows through her fingers as sap from the tree; it's sticky, but still too runny after it has been boiled down to syrup; but is just right to give as a treat to the horses when Gram boils it down further into hard maple sugar. The realistic watercolor illustrations effectively capture the scenes; color and texture are skillfully used to depict the cold, hard job of gathering the sap and the hot steamy atmosphere of the sugar house. This satisfying story will be a welcome addition during any season.?Caroline Ward, Nassau Library System, Uniondale, NYCopyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.