Melissa Savage

What do you do when you lose everything that means anything?
Ten-year old Lemonade Liberty Witt doesn’t know the answer to that question, except what her mom taught her. When life gives you lemons, you make lemonade. But what if those lemons are so big that you forget how?
How do you make lemonade out of having to leave everything you know in San Francisco to move to the small town of Willow Creek, California and live with a grandfather you’ve never even met? In a town that smells like show more grass and mud and bugs. With tall pines instead of skyscrapers and dirt instead of sidewalks. Not to mention one woolly beast lurking in the woods.
That’s right, Bigfoot.
A ginormous wooden statue of the ugly thing stands right at the center of town like he’s someone real important, like the mayor or something. And the people here actually believe he’s real and hiding somewhere out in the pine filled forests.
How can anyone possibly be expected to make lemonade out those rotten lemons?
Everything is different and Lem just wants to go back home. And then she meets Tobin Sky, the CEO of Bigfoot Detectives, Inc. and sole investigator for the town. He invites her to be his Assistant for the summer and she reluctantly agrees. At least until she can figure out her escape plan.
Together, Lem and Tobin try to capture a shot of the elusive beast on film and end up finding more than they ever could have even imagined. show less

Friends, this is an absolutely wonderful story. You all know that I consistently praise Middle Grade books for dealing so well with life lessons, and tough topics. Lemons is a shining example of exactly that. It was fitting, I think, that I was working my way through my own loss right around the time I was in the middle of reading this book. Middle Grade or not, this book really helped me sort things out. As Lemonade learned and grew, I worked my way through my issues right along with her. show more Which should tell you how wonderfully written Melissa Savage's book really is. Lemons is a wonderful story, no matter what age group you happen to fall in.

Lemonade Liberty Witt is the kind of character that I fall instantly in love with, every time. She's quirky, fiesty, and strong in a way that only young people who have suffered an unexpected loss can be. At the same time, she's every one of us no matter what our age. She's lost, confused, hurt, and feels like she may be drowning in her own sorrow. Tough on the outside, hurting on the inside, and just trying to make it all okay. I felt for her so deeply, and loved her all the more for it.

On the flip side is darling Tobin. Dealing with his own loss, in a completely different way, and just as quirky and original as Lemonade. When these two met, I just knew exciting things were going to happen. The fact that the backdrop of this story includes Bigfoot hunting? Well, that just made it all the more perfect. I wanted to believe in them just as much as Tobin did, and I wasn't at all disappointed.

Honestly though, I could gush about this book for paragraph upon paragraph. I loved the relationships between the characters, the unexpected friendships that were made, and the fact that everyone seemed to care so much for one another. I won't lie, I teared up more than a few times while reading this. It's tough not to when you're remembering the good times about people who have passed. Whether they are happy tears or sad tears, well, I'll let Lemonade school you on that.

I highly recommend this book to any young reader out there, and think it would make an excellent parent-child buddy read. Give it a shot! You might be pleasantly surprised at what you find. show less

This book has it all: likable, believable, quirky characters, adventure, mystery, love, and loss. It is an important story about the loss of a mother and the gain of a new friend. As ten-year-old Lem adapts to her new life in a new town, she becomes the assistant to Bigfoot Kid Detective Tobin Sky. Over the course of the summer, Lem and Tobin's friendship leads to the discovery of something neither of them could have ever imagined.

Lemons, by Melissa Savage, is one of the best books I have show more read this year. I plan on reading it aloud to my fifth-grade class in September. "When life gives you lemons, make lemonade," is what Lemonade Liberty Witt's mama always told her. And boy does this book give kids the message, "If Lem can make it through that tough time in her life, then I can too." I am anxious to hear the great discussions our class will have because of this book. It is a MUST HAVE for grades four and up. show less

children's middlegrade fiction (dealing with loss and finding family and friends in a new place, 1970s Northern California forest town)
cute/sweet story with endearing characters. The surprise happy ending (finding Tobin's dad in the woods, dealing with PTSD) was a bit over-simplified; PTSD isn't so easy to treat as Lemonade is led to believe, so I wouldn't recommend this necessarily to kids wanting a more thorough treatment of mental health issues.