Lemons

Lemonade is the protagonist of Lemons. She is 10 years old when she loses her mother to cancer and moves to Willow Creek to live with a grandfather she has never met. Lemonade has her mother’s red, curly hair and green eyes, and seeing her immediately reminds Charlie of his daughter. Lemonade initially prefers the city life and despises everything about the wilderness. She intentionally closes herself off to the people of Willow Creek and reacts with skepticism, negativity, and defensiveness. Lemonade refrains from showing how upset she is, instead allowing her anger and grief to boil beneath the surface. She is intelligent and adventurous; she was named because of an optimism that her mother had and hoped to instill in her. After her mother’s death, Lemonade feels that she has lost her resilience and strives to get it back by trying new things and immersing herself in the legend of Bigfoot.

Lemonade’s journey through the summer is about her grief, but it’s also a personal journey of self-discovery as she learns about her mother’s childhood and her grandfather. Lemonade witnesses herself doing things she never thought she would, like camping out, riding on the handlebars of Tobin’s bike, and eating natural cereal for breakfast.