Ever had a book that makes you smile when you read it? Almost Time did that for me. Though the storyline didn’t exactly follow my son’s keenness for homemade maple syrup, his eagerness was well matched by young Ethan Smiles of memory are a good thing.
What I am Reviewing
Almost Time.
Gary D. Schmidt & Elizabeth Stickney
G. Brian Karas (illustrator)
Clarion Books/Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Reviewed for Raincoast books.
4-7 years, 38 pages, trade paperback,
Maple Syrup, picture book, preschool, elementary, waiting, weather, seasons, growing up, patience
Eager for maple syrup, Ethan can’t wait till sugaring time rolls around. And he can’t wait till his loose tooth falls out. But his father keeps telling him it’s not time yet, and no matter how hard he tries, he can’t make time pass more quickly. The closeness of father and son is evident throughout as they wait and then celebrate the end of waiting. The brief, lyrical text is illuminated by G. Brian Karas’s beautifully composed, evocative illustrations.
Details of Almost Time
Almost Time is a super sweet book about a little boy sad by sweetness missing from his life. You can tell that he knows what he is waiting for. He gets fed well but what he wants just isn’t there. When will the maple syrup come!?!?!?!? Papa helps him out. It will be maple syrup time when your tooth comes out… Can Ethan be patient? What will he experience in the meantime?
Aren’t the pictures lovely? Occasional pictures are full page colour, Other pages are bordered in white. They have to me, a water colour feel to them. The text a great size for holding up to read to a group of children. They all convey the story well, with good details when reading with a young child.
Thoughts/Recommendations
This book would be EXCELLENT as an early spring book, or working through a unit on maple syrup. Learning about sweeteners? Tell the story of maple syrup. It would also be great if you were working through a character study and learning about being patient and how you can help yourself wait.
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