Lemons by Melissa Savage

Lemons by Melissa Savage is a delightful novel about a young girl named Lemonade Liberty Witt. However, when her mom dies, she has to move away from the city and everything she has known to a tiny town called Willow Creek. But, life in Willow Creek might not be as boring as Lemonade anticipated. Lemonade meets a boy called Tobin who’s on a quest to catch bigfoot on film and present him to the rest of the world. Lemonade decides to work with Tobin to catch bigfoot, once and for all. However, she has a bigger goal: to learn about her mom’s life when she was little.

When Lemonade joins Bigfoot Detective Inc., Tobin ecstatically welcomes her into the corporation, having never had someone to search with or become friends with. Tobin starts off by telling Lemonade about the schedule and how they go around town seeking bigfoot. However, as they get deeper into the search for bigfoot, Lemonade starts to get deeper into the search for stories about her mom.

This is exactly why Lemonade loves Mrs. Dickerson’s house. She can listen to stories about her beloved mom. It’s the only place where she can still learn more about her mom. Sadly, Lemonade isn’t the only one who has lost a loved one.

Tobin also lost his father in Vietnam. He was supposed to come back to Willow Creek one day, but the airlines say never got on the plane. The bond that pulled them together may have been their personalities, but it also could have been their loneliness, their separation from one they both loved very much, and their search for bigfoot will bring them closer to finding them than they both ever thought.

I really liked this book because of its underlying message. The whole book is about finding bigfoot, but it’s also about Lemonade and Tobin finding their parents and staying with them in their hearts. Many books have meanings like this, but finding something that you loved and have lost, is exceptionally powerful.