The Lemonade War

Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2007

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Lemons Into Lemonade

At the end of the novel, Evan and Jessie’s poster shows their audience how to turn “lemons into loot,” a reference to the adage that you should “turn lemons into lemonade,” or make the most of a bad situation. Evan and Jessie are frequently challenged to make the best out of a difficult situation, whether in lemonade stand sales or otherwise. The adage mirrors the way the children struggle to have positive familial relationships in the aftermath of a divorce and how they recover their money at the end of the novel after having lost their lemonade earnings.

Friendship

Every child in The Lemonade War deals with issues of finding and keeping good friends. Evan struggles with the social dynamics of his all-boy friend group, most of whom willingly accept Scott Spencer into their fold. Evan doesn’t like Scott and has difficulty expressing this externally. Jessie, on the other hand, has trouble with making friends in the first place, frequently avoiding thoughts about the mean girls from her class in second grade. Even Megan expresses her feelings about which girls like her and don’t like her when Jessie presses Megan to make phone calls for their franchise.