Maple Sugar Moon

by John Weber

Douglas and Scotty Melcher are exploring a mountain meadow in the Gallatin Valley north of Yellowstone National Park. When they’re caught in the open by a severe storm that unexpectedly blows in over the mountains, they desperately run trying to find shelter, but they’re much too far from home. They lean against a huge tree to rest and catch their breath and hear the voice of an old man telling them to come inside. Running around to the back of the tree, they find a triangular-shaped opening at the base of the trunk large enough for them to crawl inside the hollow tree. Safely inside, the tree talks to them so the boys become acquainted with the Ponderosa Pine tree and name him ‘Grandpa P’. While they wait out the storm, Grandpa P takes the boys back to 1932 Vermont where their Uncle Orville and Aunt Thelma teach them how to make maple syrup. They also meet their checker-playing cousin Jamie and his two younger twin brothers Ron and Russ and their huge dog, Bear. The boys enjoy finding out how maple syrup is made and while they do, they learn a great deal about how their Aunt and Uncle and their family get by during the Great Depression. But as the day slips by and it starts to get dark, they begin to worry. How will they find their way back to Montana and their own time?
Maple Sugar Moon is the first of a series of novellas chronicling the adventures of Scotty and Douglas as Grandpa P sends them on journeys to different places and times. Each adventure will introduce middle school age readers to science and nature as the boys experience it with their Uncle Orville, Aunt Thelma and their family.

65 pages, Kindle Edition

Published July 15, 2017