What-Cha Doing?

Ben's family sugar bush is a busy place. Grampa’s tapping trees on the maple ridge; Dad’s boiling sap in the evaporator house; Gramma’s making maple butter in the camp interior; Mom’s wrapping maple cream in the kitchen; and his sisters are breaking up maple candy in the storage room. Ben’s hoping for a sweet treat, but everyone tells him he’ll have to wait. When the maple syrup is finally ready, no one can find Ben. Where could he possibly be?
—A great read aloud at maple syrup time

About the creators

Kim Renton and her husband, Dale, operate a maple ridge that has been in the Renton family for five generations. She enjoys explaining how maple products are made to visitors. What-Cha Doing was inspired by the many questions children ask when they visit their Stilesville sugar camp in the spring. Her blog about farm and family life can be found at www.farmwifewriting.wordpress.com

Tamara Thiebaux Heikalo has illustrated numerous children’s books including Mayann’s Train Ride and Driftwood Dragons and Other Seaside Poems which were both shortlisted for the Lillian Shepherd Memorial Award for Excellence in Illustration. She lives in rural Quebec with her husband, Daniel Heikalo. Some of her work is featured on her website at www.tamaraheikalo.wixsite.com/artist.