★ 03/22/2021
Sterer (The Midnight Fair) writes a make-lemonade story with a twist. A tan-skinned child sporting black braids, a blue-and-white dress, and a resolute expression readies a lemonade stand on a hot summer day. “I chopped and measured, squeezed and stirred... until I had something delicious.” The child’s caretaker, bearded and stocky, builds a wheeled stand to take out onto their city block. But in a visually funny turn, the city sidewalk is already crammed with other stands, and the protagonist, disheartened, wanders farther. Suddenly, the stand rolls toward a river, leaving a trail behind it like an out-of-control lawn mower, until it lands on a riverbank, where “something thirsty” arrives via the waterway. Soon, child and stand cater to a growing menagerie of parched creatures. “As I looked out from that riverbank,” the child narrates, “it felt just like a dream.” The unexpected developments feel dreamy, too, as Cho’s (The Oboe Goes Boom Boom Boom) sprightly art, filled with invention and wit, give still more charm to a story about doing one’s best with what one’s given, and of transitioning from city to wilderness. Ages 4–8. (May)
A PW Summer Reads Selection
★ "Sterer writes a make-lemonade story with a twist . . . The unexpected developments feel dreamy, too, as Cho’s sprightly art, filled with invention and wit, give still more charm to a story about doing one’s best with what one’s given, and of transitioning from city to wilderness." —Publishers Weekly, starred review
★ "Children will rejoice at Sterer’s blissful text, introducing customer after customer, while Cho’s illustrations fill the pages . . . With pages to pore over, this essential purchase will leave readers thirsty, exhilarated, and full of plans of their own." —School Library Journal, starred review
"Bright cartoon illustrations are full of funny details, and the alliterative text begs to be read aloud . . . Encouragement for moguls-to-be and fun for everyone else." —Kirkus
"With pigtails bouncing and wide smile grinning (and then grimacing), our young entrepreneur brings a frantic energy to the scene, pushing and then chasing her homemade stand (topped with a bespectacled lemon with its own delightful expressions) through scenes vibrant with urban chaos and then pastoral sunniness." —BCCB
"The artwork moves from garish colors befitting a hot summer day to the darker tonesof a forest and riverside dreamscape, all overflowing with comic details . . . A delightful frame for a lesson on conquering challenges." —Booklist
"Cho's lively, sunny illustrations are the perfect match for Sterer's amusing text." —The Buffalo News
★ 06/25/2021
K-Gr 2—Hang in there. The smiling lemons on the initial end papers hint that something great is about to happen. And if "it began with lemonade," and the day is warm, and there is no room for a small girl's lemonade stand on any of her neighborhood corners, readers may begin to suspect that larger schemes are afoot. She pushes, then chases, her stand across fields and down hills. "So when at last I reached the river, I was ready to cry. I sat for a long while, feeling terrible as a turnip." The next part of her river adventure arrives in the form of a thirsty fisherman, whose worms look far too happy to ever be on a hook, and our heroine, with brown skin and a big heart, is ready with her ice cold wares. Children will rejoice at Sterer's blissful text, introducing customer after customer, while Cho's illustrations fill the pages, offering up octopus babies, otters in hats, beavers doing the backstroke, dancing bunnies, clacking crabs, and more, all of whom exhibit a thirst that will not be slaked. Steamboats, tugboats, skiffs, and submarines line up for miles, and like every good proprietor, the child stays open as long as she can, then rumbles home to dream of the next day's business. VERDICT With pages to pore over, this essential purchase will leave readers thirsty, exhilarated, and full of plans of their own.—Kimberly Olson Fakih, School Library Journal
2021-04-14
A young entrepreneur is ready to sell homemade lemonade, but everyone else has already staked out the best spots.
The nameless narrator rolls a colorful stand through the diverse city neighborhood and just keeps on going until reaching the countryside. Pushing it up a hill, the kid loses control, and the tall stand with the lemon on top goes careening through the woods until it finally stops near a river. Unexpectedly, a customer arrives! The kid serves up, and then a steady stream of customers float by: an octopus, two alligators, a sea monster, a diver in an old-fashioned helmet, and more. The kid needs to make more lemonade on the spot. After selling out and trudging home, the kid sleeps through the night dreaming about a future riverside lemonade empire. Careful readers will spot many reminders of the adventure in the kid’s bedroom. A toy octopus’s tentacles overflow from a chest, a diver’s helmet sits on the floor, pictures of sea animals and boats adorn the walls. The lines between reality and fantasy blur…but the tip jar is full. Bright cartoon illustrations are full of funny details (the lemonade-stand sign smiles and frowns expressively), and the alliterative text begs to be read aloud: “I sat for a long while, feeling terrible as a turnip,” the kid grumps at one point. The narrator has textured black hair and a ruddy complexion. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Encouragement for moguls-to-be and fun for everyone else. (Picture book. 5-7)
