The Lemonade War (The Lemonade War Series) - Jacqueline Davies

This is one of those books I never would have picked up on my own and I probably never would have chosen it as a read-aloud with my daughter.  I generally like to choose more 'elevated' books for our read alouds. But, somehow we ended up with a free copy, and the cover, the premise, etc. all immediately appealed to Izzy and she requested it as our next read-aloud.  It's short so I thought, 'What the heck? Why not?'  

 

The verdict?  I liked it a lot more than I thought I would and Izzy absolutely loved it.  Like a lot of books about kids, I didn't find every single plot point to be entirely believable, but that's really okay.  What's important is that the inner-world of kids is accurately and convincingly portrayed.  Kids aren't all sweetness and light. They feel pain and sadness, anxiety and fear, and even rage and jealousy just as fiercely as any adult.  I really like it when books don't shy away from that.  Also, kids aren't totally oblivious to adult worries.  So much of what happens in this book is a result of misunderstandings based on lack of communication which is directly related to the recent divorce of the kids' parents.  In short, the kids don't want to upset or worry mom so they keep their troubles to themselves.

 

On top of all that, it's also a rather clever little primer on business and economics. I gather the sequel takes on the legal system.  Good stuff here!