Guided Reading Questions -

“Too warm,” Elias’s father said, wiping his forehead in mid-March. “The sap isn’t running.”

Elias walked the line of trees alone. He passed the old silver maple, then the twin reds, until he reached the last tree—a giant sugar maple his great-grandmother had planted. Its trunk was wider than his outstretched arms. He pressed his palm to the bark. guided reading questions

The next morning, Elias woke before dawn. Frost glittered on the grass. He ran to the sugar bush. From the spile in the old maple, a single drop fell. Then another. He cupped his hand under the flow—cold, clear, sweet. “Too warm,” Elias’s father said, wiping his forehead

“We could leave,” Elias said at breakfast. Its trunk was wider than his outstretched arms

The sugar shack had stood at the edge of the forest for four generations. Every March, Elias’s family tapped the maples, boiled the sap, and filled amber bottles with sweetness. But this year, the buckets hung empty.

No drip. No rhythm.