There it was. Sitting on the front steps. Just as Jessie had said. An enormous black duffle bag, stuffed full of enough clothes to last...forever.
“See,” Jessie whispered. “He’s finally come home.”
Jessie and Evan Treski have waged a lemonade war, sought justice in a class trial, unmasked a bell thief, and disagreed about the right to keep secrets.
Now they are staging a magic show—with a disappearing act sure to amaze their audience. But who shows up? Their father, who has done such a good job of disappearing himself.
Just as Evan and Jessie took on running a business in The Lemonade War and a court of law in The Lemonade Crime, in this fifth novel of the bestselling Lemonade War series, they take on the challenges of magic and illusion all while discovering some hidden truths about their own family. Another fresh, funny, emotionally charged novel by the author whom Books for Kids calls, “one of the best writers for the middle grades around.”
Age Range: 7 - 10 years
Grade Level: 2 - 5
Series: The Lemonade War Series (Book 5)
Hardcover: 272 pages
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (April 1, 2014)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0544052897
ISBN-13: 978-0544052895
REVIEWS
“Zeroing in with uncommon perspicacity on the push-and-pull relationship between the two children—Evan a thoroughly average 10-year-old who provides the stability that his much brighter but high-strung little sister lacks—Davies casts them into a series of strenuous tests....Child readers, being more vulnerable to parental failures, may find it a hard truth that serves as a means for both coping with and forgiving them. Action and humor make the hard lessons go down easy.” —Kirkus, starred review
“One of the pleasures of reading the Lemonade War series, which began with The Lemonade War (2007), is watching the gradual development of the two main characters and the subtle shifts in their relationship, never more apparent than in this story. As the third-person narrative switches from one child’s point of view to the other, the contrast between the two is marked and consistently believable. Readers intrigued by the magic theme will also appreciate the appended instructions for a card trick. The series’ many fans won’t want to miss this one.”—Booklist
“In this fifth book Davies shows that rare ability of the best of children’s authors, to create plots in which their characters grow and change in a way completely true to themselves. Beverly Cleary had that ability, and it is with all reverence that I can say Jacqueline Davies has it, too, in the manner of Evan’s best card trick, in spades.” —Books for Kids blog
AWARDS AND LISTS
A Junior Library Guild Selection
Kirkus—starred review