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Summary
Summary
Everyone loves Miss Wichelman?s fifth-grade class?especially best friends Traci and Marilyn. That?s where they learn that when life hands you lemons, make lemonade! They are having a great year until Traci begins to notice some changes in Marilyn. She?s losing weight, and seems tired all the time. She has leukemia?and a tough road of chemotherapy ahead. It is not only Traci and Miss Wichelman who stand up for her, but in a surprising and unexpected turn, the whole fifth-grade class, who figures out a way to say we?re with you. In true Polacco fashion, this book turns lemons into lemonade and celebrates amazing life itself.
Author Notes
Patricia Polacco was born in Lansing, Michigan on July 11, 1944. She attended Oakland Tech High School in Oakland, California before heading off to the California College of Arts and Crafts in Oakland, then Laney Community College in Oakland. She then set off for Monash University, Mulgrave, Australia and the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, Melbourne, Australia where she received a Ph.D in Art History, Emphasis on Iconography.
After college, she restored ancient pieces of art for museums. She didn't start writing children's books until she was 41 years old. She began writing down the stories that were in her head, and was then encouraged to join the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators. There she learned how to put together a dummy and get a story into the form of a children's picture book. Her mother paid for a trip to New York, where the two visited 16 publishers in one week. She submitted everything she had to more than one house. By the time she returned home the following week, she had sold just about everything.
Polacco has won the 1988 Sydney Taylor Book Award for The Keeping Quilt, and the 1989 International Reading Association Award for Rechenka's Eggs. She was inducted into the Author's Hall of Fame by the Santa Clara Reading Council in 1990, and received the Commonwealth Club of California's Recognition of Excellence that same year for Babushka's Doll, and again in 1992 for Chicken Sunday. She also won the Golden Kite Award for Illustration from the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators for Chicken Sunday in 1992, as well as the Boston Area Educators for Social Responsibility Children's Literature and Social Responsibility Award. In 1993, she won the Jane Adams Peace Assoc. and Women's Intl. League for Peace and Freedom Honor award for Mrs. Katz and Tush for its effective contribution to peace and social justice. She has won Parent's Choice Honors for Some Birthday in 1991, the video Dream Keeper in 1997 and Thank You Mr. Falker in 1998. In 1996, she won the Jo Osborne Award for Humor in Children's Literature. Her titles The Art of Miss. Chew and The Blessing Cup made The New York Times Best Seller List.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (4)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Miss Wichelman, an energetic fifth-grade teacher, assures her students they can be anything they want to be ("If you dream it... then you can BE it!"). She keeps a basket of lemons in her classroom, repeatedly asking, "And if life hands you a lemon.... Just add water and sugar and what do you have?" Her students know to respond, "Lemonade!" But this philosophy is tested when Marilyn is diagnosed with leukemia; looking at the lemons, her best friend Traci thinks, "No matter how much sugar was added, there wasn't going to be lemonade this time." After enduring grueling chemotherapy that leaves her bald, Marilyn returns to school to find that her classmates have all shaved their heads in support. Miss Wichelman is also bald, but (she eventually reveals to Traci and Marilyn at a meeting of the trio's Lemonade Club) it is because she is being treated for breast cancer. When the teacher confides that her illness has dampened her enthusiasm for applying to medical school, Marilyn bellows, "You aren't going to let something like cancer stomp on your dreams, are you?" In an uplifting finale, the teacher gets married, attended by Traci and Marilyn in lemon-colored dresses, and goes on to become a doctor. As is often the case with Polacco's stories, this lump-in-the-throat, inspiring tale comes straight from real life; Traci is her daughter. The artist's characteristic illustration style works particularly well here to evoke a wide emotional range while maintaining an essentially sunny mood. Ages 6-up. (Sept.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Booklist Review
Polacco continues to draw from rich family experiences to weave satisfying, inspirational stories. Traci and Marilyn are best friends. Like the other kids in Miss Wichelman's fifth-grade class, they love their teacher because she makes the children believe they can be anything they want. She even keeps a basket of lemons on her desk to remind them that if life hands you a lemon, make lemonade. When Miss Wichelman tells the class that Marilyn has leukemia, everyone is shocked and scared for their classmate. Perhaps this lemon can't be sweetened. To prepare the kids for Marilyn's return, Miss Wichelman explains the effects of Marilyn's treatment: her hair will fall out and she will tire easily. When Marilyn returns to school, she's greeted with a surprise: everyone is bald even Miss Wichelman! Eventually everyone's hair grows back except Miss Wichelman's, because she has breast cancer, but her wedding ends the story happily. The author's note cites the personal history on which the book is based; Traci is Polacco's daughter, Marilyn is her best friend, and Miss Wichelman was their beloved teacher. Pencil-and-marker illustrations in Polacco's usual free style gently convey the emotions.--Cummins, Julie Copyright 2007 Booklist
School Library Journal Review
Gr 2-4-Best friends Traci and Marilyn are having a wonderful year in fifth grade with their warm, caring teacher. Miss Wichelman ends each day with the message, "if life hands you a lemon or two today-make lemonade." In the midst of this lovely school year, Marilyn is diagnosed with leukemia. The explanations of cancer, chemotherapy, hair loss, and fatigue are simple and clear. The two girls and Miss Wichelman get together to share their feelings and ideas, calling themselves the Lemonade Club. When Marilyn returns to school wearing a head scarf, she is met by her classmates and teacher wearing colorful hats that, when removed, reveal that they have all shaved their heads in solidarity. Months later, as Marilyn is getting better, a classmate notices that Miss Wichelman is still wearing her scarf. She confides in the girls that she is undergoing treatment for breast cancer. The story ends five years later with her wedding and Marilyn and Traci as bridesmaids. An author's note explains that this is a true story. The colorful illustrations are typical Polacco-soft, a little fuzzy, and warm. While more message-driven than pure narrative, this picture book is a good choice for opening a discussion on empathy, understanding, and the importance of friendship in the face of adversity.-Susan Lissim, Dwight School, New York City (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
Very best friends Traci and Marilyn are in Miss Wichelman's warm, friendly and inspiring fifth-grade classroom led by an encouraging teacher whose daily motto is to make lemonade out of life's sour lemons. Marilyn is given one of life's worst lemons, leukemia, and enters a course of chemotherapy complete with its sickening side effects and the loss of her hair. Through it all, Traci and her family remain supportive as only best friends can. But it is Miss Wichelman's personal connection with cancer, her special friendship with both girls in and outside of school and her secret dreams of finishing medical school that lead the way to a classroom full of shaved heads and happy reunions when Marilyn returns from a long absence. Once again, Polacco works from a true episode, this time in her daughter's friend's life, to build a heartwarming and touchingly gentle story of serious childhood illness and its hopeful, positive outcome through compassionate peer loyalty. Her signature expressive illustrations of children and adults' sadness, relief and gladness rendered in pencils and markers complete this sentimental yet poignant story that will surely trigger a few tears for some and empathetic understanding for all. (Picture book. 7-12) Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
