Status
Available
Call number
Genres
Collection
Publication
Dutton Children Books (1995), Hardcover, 32 pages
Description
Paul's grandmother describes her first sugaring-off party at Tante Loulou's farmhouse where they boiled maple sap into syrup and poured it on snow to make a delicious dessert.
User reviews
LibraryThing member gundulabaehre
Jonathan London's The Sugaring Off Party is not a story about the sugaring process itself, but rather a tale about the party after the sugaring has been completed and the maple syrup produced, the so-called sugaring-off party. Told as a tale within a tale, and liberally interspersed with French
The full-page illustrations by renowned French Canadian folk painter Gilles Pelletier are evocative, colourful and charmingly naive (the Montreal Candiens hockey jerseys worn by the terrible twins are a wonderful, whimsical touch). Although in and by themselves the illustrations would not be entirely to my liking, they work very well with Jonathan London's engaging narrative, providing a fitting complement of and addtion to the same.
As someone who loves languages, I am delighted that because The Sugaring Off Party is a story of and about French Canada, a number of French expressions are included within the text proper. And although most of these do seem rather self-explanatory within the context of the narrative, I appreciate that Jonathan London has included a glossary of the French terms with their English counterparts. And although this story is primarily about the French Canadian tradition of going to a cabane à sucre for an annual sugaring-off party, it also pleases me that the author mentions on the glossary page that the term maple or sugar moon is what the Abenaki Indians call the March moon (this is considered the main time for maple sugaring). It should not be forgotten that Native Americans and First Nations were the first to produce maple syrup and maple sugar, and that European settlers learned from them and were taught by them.
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expressions, a French Canadian grand-mère (grandmother) tells her little grandson (who is about to attend his very first sugaring-off party) about the sugaring celebrations of her own childhood and the fun, food, music, dancing and sense of family that were part and parcel to these joyous occasions.The full-page illustrations by renowned French Canadian folk painter Gilles Pelletier are evocative, colourful and charmingly naive (the Montreal Candiens hockey jerseys worn by the terrible twins are a wonderful, whimsical touch). Although in and by themselves the illustrations would not be entirely to my liking, they work very well with Jonathan London's engaging narrative, providing a fitting complement of and addtion to the same.
As someone who loves languages, I am delighted that because The Sugaring Off Party is a story of and about French Canada, a number of French expressions are included within the text proper. And although most of these do seem rather self-explanatory within the context of the narrative, I appreciate that Jonathan London has included a glossary of the French terms with their English counterparts. And although this story is primarily about the French Canadian tradition of going to a cabane à sucre for an annual sugaring-off party, it also pleases me that the author mentions on the glossary page that the term maple or sugar moon is what the Abenaki Indians call the March moon (this is considered the main time for maple sugaring). It should not be forgotten that Native Americans and First Nations were the first to produce maple syrup and maple sugar, and that European settlers learned from them and were taught by them.
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Awards
NCTE Adventuring with Books: A Booklist for Pre-K—Grade 6 (11th Edition: 1993-1995)
Language
Physical description
32 p.; 20 inches
ISBN
0525451870 / 9780525451877
Local notes
Paul's grandmother describes her first sugaring-off party at Tante Loulou's farmhouse, where they boiled maple sap into syrup and poured it on snow to make a delicious dessert. French phrases sprinkled throughout the text combine with the folk paintings of French-Canadian artist Gilles Pelletier.