If You Have Lemons ...

The Lemonade War by Jacqueline Davies

My review

rating: 3 of 5 stars
Evan can't do math, his younger sister (the math wiz) can't do emotions. Evan's angry because Jessie will be in his fourth grade class and will probably show him up. Instead of them doing a lemonade stand together, they set up competing stands. The capitalism is sandwiched between bouts of drama and junior angst. The children learn valuable family dynamics lessons at the end, except for Scott, who really needs to be in Juvenile Detention.
There's more story to this one than in Gary Paulsen's Lawn Boy. and it's slightly less of a fairy tale. Yes, forgiveness is achieved (what, between siblings? you must be kidding!), but it isn't all totally working out. Evan learns hard lessons about permits and sanitation. Lawn Boy only runs up against a Hostile Takeover, which is handled when he fortunately acquired a prize fighter. I like this book better because it was more realistic, keeping in mind that it is a kid's book.


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