The Lemonade War
Created by: Sophia Tanzi Author: Jacqueline Davies
Exposition
The story The Lemonade War mainly takes place outdoors where Evan and Jessie are selling lemonade. The story is during modern times in the last few hot summer vacation days of August. The plot revolves around siblings Evan and Jessie, the two protagonists of the book. Other characters are Megan, Jake, Scott, Paul, Ryan, and Mrs. Treski. At the beginning of the conflict, Jessie and Evan discover that Jessie is skipping a grade to end up in the same fourth grade class as Evan. They each have different reactions to this situation, causing them to fight and begin a lemonade war. In the war, they both attempt to get the most profit as possible through lemonade stands by the last day of summer. Overall, the conflict of The Lemonade War is external because Evan and Jessie are fighting against one another in their struggle to win their war.
The Lemonade War picture: http://www.lemonadewar.com/book1_tlw.html
The Two Main Characters
Evan and Jessie are the protagonists of the story. Each of them have their own personal traits that make them special.
The Lemonade War picture:
http://www.lemonadewar.com/book1_tlw.html
Jessie
- Isn't very good with people
- Talented at math
- Is eight years old
- Saves money
- One foot shorter than Evan
Evan
- People smart
- Is ten years old
- Has difficulty with mathematics
- Has short brown hair
- Spends money quickly
Boy Picture:
http://www.hasloo.com/freecliparts/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/illustration0016.jpg
Rising Action
Evan and Jessie continue to battle with their war. Things get intense as the brother and sister go back and forth at each other. There are some key events that happen as the conflict unravels. First, Evan leaves Jessie out when he's with friends, but he used to accept her. Second, Jessie steals Evan's business with her lemonade stand. Next, the siblings rush to beat each other as they quickly scramble to clean the dishes. Lastly, things really level up when Jessie inserts bugs into all the lemonade Evan bought.
Money Picture:
http://i.i.cbsi.com/cnwk.1d/i/tim/2012/12/10/cash_620x350_620x350.jpg
Climax
Evan is brought to extremes from the bug incident. He snatches all of Jessie's money behind her back, and plans to not return it until the end of the war. However, the plan doesn't work well when all of it is stolen. When Jessie found out, she was so furious she lashed out at him. At this moment, a reader is really curious to know if Evan and Jessie will ever put an end to their constant fighting.
Roller coaster picture:
http://bibledaily.files.wordpress.com/2009/03/rollercoaster.jpg
Will Evan and Jessie's battling ever end?
Charcterization
I have three examples of the author's characterization:
- [pg.33] In the story, whenever Evan tries to do a math problem, the numbers jumble in his head and he gives up. This shows that one of Evan's weaknesses is math.
- [pg. 61] Evan told in the story about how Jessie didn't cry often, but he said when she did, she was a howler. What Evan said about Jessie shows how Jessie handles her emotions.
- [pg.17] Jessie thinks to herself about how she'd rather do one hundred math problems than try to navigate someone else's feelings. A reader can infer from this that Jessie is weak with figuring out others emotions, but she is strong when it comes to mathematics.
http://2012.igem.org/wiki/images/5/5e/Characterizing.gif
Theme
There was a very strong theme to this story. The message is that even when the going gets rough and friends split apart, true friendship will eventually be restored. There are three main clues that hint at the theme. To start, Evan and Jessie used to always be there for each other, but they drifted away. This clues to the first part of the message. The next clue is that a reader could consider Evan and Jessie to have true friendship since they one always helped when the other needed it. The last main clue to this theme is that even after their rough and complicated war, Jessie and Evan became friends again.
Friendship photo:
http://media1.santabanta.com/full1/Emotions/Friendship/friendship-73a.jpg
Even when the going gets rough and friends split apart, true friendship will eventually be restored.
Dialogue
The author uses strong dialogue throughout the story, and I have two examples that I will share:
- [pg.134] Jessie holds in her feelings about the war as she keeps it a secret when she's talking to her mom, but her emotions get the best of her as she admits how she is feeling about the competition between her and her brother. Jessie's dialogue didn't just show her mother, Mrs.Treski, how she was feeling. It revealed to the reader as well.
- [pg.86] When Jessie pleaded to spend time with Evan and his friends Evan rejected her. This was unlike his behavior before the war because Evan used to include Jessie with a lot of things he did. A reader can sense that Evan is very upset with Jessie and he doesn't want to be around her.
Quotation marks photo:
http://www.yourdictionary.com/images/articles/lg/613.QuotationMarks.jpg
Figurative Language
In The Lemonade War there are many examples of figurative language that I have to state. The first example is at the part where the Labor Day fireworks are going off. The author showed and didn't tell by writing, "Just then they heard the sound of thunder booming in the distance." It is figurative language because it is a form of imagery. I thought this would be a good first example because this helps the reader hear the sound of the fireworks even though they aren't actually at the event. Next up, the author shows Evan's annoyance of Jessie by writing, "Evan felt a tiny flame of anger shoot up and lick his face." This is an example of a metaphor because it compares Evan's anger to a flame as it jumps up and licks Evan's face. Using a metaphor for the flame of anger helps a reader imagine the anger's qualities. Lastly, I have an example of description that the author wrote to describe an afternoon breeze. The author wrote, "An afternoon breeze had kicked itself into a gusty wind, and the shade of the window tapped out a steady beat that was pleasant and reassuring." I chose this example because it helps better describe the breeze for the reader. The examples of figurative language the author uses in The Lemonade War help create a better visualization of things that occurred in the story.
Figurative language picture:
http://languagearts.pppst.com/figurative.html