Vendor
	Mohrbooks Literary Agency Sebastian Ritscher
Original language
English
Categories
Children’s picture books

IT BEGAN WITH LEMONADE

Lian Cho Gideon Sterer

This imaginative, colorful tale of making (and selling!) lemonade from life's lemons is not too sour and not too sweet.

One scorching hot summer day, a spunky young girl decides to sell lemonade... only to find there are too many other young entrepreneurs on her street with the same idea. So she sets off with her lemonade stand and ends up at the river's edge, where she discovers a most unexpected, quirky, and very thirsty clientele.

Key selling points
- Perseverance and entrepreneurship: Our protagonist doesn't give up when she sees that the streets are full-- she keeps moving forward with her business.
- Independent soul: While her supportive dad makes an appearance at the beginning, our protagonist takes matters into her own hands when things are difficult.
- One magical ending: This book starts out in the real world and then takes a fantastical, unexpected, incredibly satisfying turn.
- Summer celebration: This is truly a perfect celebration of the summer--it's a love note to the hot concrete and all the possibilities in a summer's day
- An exciting new illustrator: Kids will delight in all the details in her illustrations--like the octopus hanging up its shirt with eight arm holes!

Gideon Sterer grew up in upstate New York, where his parents owned a little zoo. His previous books include Skyfishing, The Night Knights, and Not Your Nest.
Lian Cho was born in Taiwan, raised in New Zealand, and currently lives in Brooklyn working as a children's book illustrator.

Available products
Book Published 2021-05-21 by Dial Books for Young Readers

Comments

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.

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.

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... With pages to pore over, this essential purchase will leave readers thirsty, exhilarated, and full of plans of their own.

The artwork moves from garish colors befitting a hot summer day to the darker tones of a forest and riverside dreamscape, all overflowing with comic details... A delightful frame for a lesson on conquering challenges.

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.