The Lemonade War

This week we celebrated Memorial Day, a time to honor those who have defended us during wartime. But unofficially it also means the beginning of summer, a time to bring out the barbecue and plan for warmer days.

If you have any industrious children ages seven through twelve looking for some summer inspiration, you might want to hand them a copy of a book published in 2007 and on its way to classic status: Jacqueline Davies’s The Lemonade War.

At the end of summer vacation, Evan and his younger sister Jessie become rivals to see who can sell more than a hundred dollar’s worth of lemonade before school starts. Because Jessie has just skipped a grade, Evan learns that he will be in the same fourth grade class as his smart, sassy younger sister. Hence it fuels his sense of competition with her. Both go about their plans to earn money in radically different ways. A plotter, schemer, and math expert, Jessie calculates how much lemonade, at how high of cost, she will need to win. She even figures out ways to get others involved with lemonade franchises.

In this book told from alternating points of view, Evan uses his personal charm to entice friends into the project, getting donations of lemonade. He depends less on strategy and more on inspired intuition—taking his stand into the town where the most customers can be found. But then things begin to get ugly—Jessie sabotages some of his lemonade; he steals some of her money.

In the end the two come together again and manage to win a prize by outlining their summer lemonade schemes. I have a fondness for books showing children engaging in meaningful work, learning the ways of business, and managing money. We don’t have as much fiction as we should on this topic. The Lemonade War appeals not only with its focus on the children’s business model, but also explores sibling relationships. And it raises questions about the ethics of competition, revealing the dark side when it becomes destructive.

So logically does Jacqueline Davies outline the details of a successful lemonade stand that it makes me want to set up one this Memorial Day weekend. It appears that you can even make more money on lemonade than writing! Who knew? But if I don’t, here is a virtual glass of sweet lemonade to all my readers—I hope you are having a wonderful Memorial Day weekend.

Here’s a section from The Lemonade War: