Reviews for The Sugaring-Off Party

The average rating for The Sugaring-Off Party based on 2 reviews is 4.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2010-04-19 00:00:00 Thomas Perryman Jonathan London's The Sugaring-Off Party is not so much 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. Told as a tale within a tale, and liberally interspersed with French 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 an evocative, colourful and charmingly naive accompaniment (I think that the Montreal Candiens hockey jerseys worn by the "terrible twins" are a wonderful, whimsical touch). Although in and by themselves the folksy pictures would not be entirely to my liking, they work very well with Jonathan London's engaging narrative, providing a fitting complement and compliment. I also really appreciate that because The Sugaring Off Party is a story of and about French Canada, a number of French expression are included within the text proper. And although many of them do seem rather self-explanatory within the context of the narrative, I also much appreciate that Jonathan London has actually included a glossary of the French terms with their English counterparts. And I do much like the fact that, although this story is primarily about the French Canadian tradition of going to a cabane à sucre for an annual sugaring-off party, the author also mentions on the glossary page that the term maple or sugar moon is what the Abenaki Indians call the March moon (and that this is considered the main time for maple sugaring). It should not be forgotten that Native Americans and Canadian First Nations were the first to produce maple syrup and maple sugar, and that European settlers learned from them and were taught by them.

Review # 2 was written on 2007-12-18 00:00:00 Sean Toy I thought it was fun reading this book. Just reading some of the French word made me think I was learning French. It made me think about the different partys I've been to. So I recomond that all children should read this book and get a look of what it would be like to have partys at your Aunt's maple suryp farm.