“Sap's rising!” A picture book that pays tribute to the spirit and traditions of rural New England and a reminder of the very real values found on family farms.

A father, his two sons, and one dog set off at dawn to the sugar bush to begin the process of making syrup. Nan 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, 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.


Lovingly illustrated and infused with the lucid light of early Spring, this is a picture book you’ll love to share.