The Lemonade Club by Patricia Polacco

The Lemonade Club is a true story about two best friends, Traci and Marilyn. They love their 5th grade teacher, Mrs. Wichelman. They learned from her that when life hands you lemons, you make lemonade! Things are going well, until Traci begins to notice that Marilyn is growing thinner and weaker. She finds out that Marilyn has Leukemia, a type of cancer. Marilyn is fighting a tough battle and is having a hard time dealing with the pain of her illness. When she returns to school, she discovers that she has the support of her whole class, who all shaved their heads to look just like her. Mrs. Wichelman is forming a close bond with Traci and Marilyn, and the girls discover that is hiding something from them. It turns out that she is fighting a battle too, with breast cancer. The girls motivate Mrs. Wichelman to fight her illness as well and to be all she can be, just like she taught them. Mrs. Wichelman explains that she wants the girls to attend her wedding in yellow dresses. In the end, the book jumps five years into the future in a church...for Mrs. Wichelman's wedding! Both Traci AND Marilyn are their for her in their yellow dresses to celebrate this wonderful day!

This book was incredibly emotional and I shed some tears while reading it. It is a beautiful story of friendship in the hardest of times. I connected with this story because my next door neighbor pasted away from Leukemia right after we graduated high school. He was a fighter, but unfortunately the cancer won. This story, though sad and very serious, did have a happy ending. Not all of these stories have happy endings, but there are some that do. This is a true story, so it makes it that much happier! While reading I kept thinking how I would feel reading this to my class. It would be a tough story to read because some students could have a connection to the story like I did with a relative or a friend. It is tough to say if I would include it in my library. If I did, I would maybe make a note on it that said it is a serious story that deals with serious issues and the children can chose to read if they want.

I would use this book for 3rd graders. It is a picture book, but a longer picture book. I think children books that deal with issues like this are important to include in a library, but you have to be very careful with it. It is a subject that can be hard to understand and difficult for students. It would take a mature classroom of students to be able to use it as a read aloud. I really did enjoy this book because it was a real story and really touched me.