Reviewed by: It Began with Lemonade by Gideon Sterer Kate Quealy-Gainer, Assistant Editor Sterer, Gideon It Began with Lemonade; illus. by Lian Cho. Dial, 2021 [40p] Trade ed. ISBN 9780735228283 $17.99 E-book ed. ISBN 9780593111406 $10.99 Reviewed from digital galleys R 4-7 yrs The first Saturday of summer is “hot as an oven with blazing blue skies, ” a perfect day, our young protagonist thinks, to sell some lemonade. Unfortunately, after a morning of chopping, squeezing, and stirring, she finds that the streets are crowded with lemonade sellers, so she trudges along further and further away from town, with her luck eventually going from bad to worse when her stand on wheels rolls down a hill, through the scorching countryside, stopping at the edge of the river. She’s about to give up and head back, but she’s surprised by a boater who floats along looking for a cool drink. Soon she’s got herself a slew of buyers in her new location, including canoeing crocodiles, tubing bears, an octopus, a sea monster, and even a mermaid, and she returns home that night with pockets full and pitchers empty. With pigtails bouncing and wide smile grinning (and then grimacing), our young entrepreneur brings a frantic energy to the scene, pushing and then chasing her homemade stand (topped with a bespectacled lemon with its own delightful expressions) through scenes vibrant with urban chaos and then pastoral sunniness. Her animated shouting to new riverside customers brings further verve, and the parade of thirsty creatures gets increasingly silly as the afternoon wears on. Pair this with Hoffmann’s Dirt Cheap (BCCB 4/20) for a lesson in creative capitalism. Copyright © 2021 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois