School Library Journal Review
PreS-Gr 2-Higgins's latest offering is a fun story of two bicycle enthusiasts who accidentally meet and develop a friendship. Maurice owns a lemonade stand on wheels, while Lotta rides around collecting sticks to distribute from the basket on her bike. When the two crash and are left to manage on foot, a crafty Sid intervenes and saves the day. The narrative is lyrical and charming, with "squeezy drops of sunshine" lemons and heartfelt adoration for the possibility found in twigs. OHora's acrylic illustrations are quirky, and the characters' expressions are endearing. The page layouts shift from full page to comic book-style panels, which in some cases could lead to a little confusion for newly independent readers and may make the title better as a one-on-one read rather than a larger group share for storytime. However, the tale's message, that sometimes things that were once new can quickly become familiar and comfortable, particularly when making friends, is solid encouragement for young readers. VERDICT A sweet story of friendship, full of musings about potential that can be inspiring to imaginative minds. This is a good read for those in search of some whimsy and warmth.-Kaitlin Malixi, Kensington Health Sciences Academy, Philadelphia © Copyright 2019. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
Maurice sells sunshiny drinks from his mobile lemonade stand: "No matter where he rode, he always had customers." Lotta uses her bicycle cart to collect sticks, which she hands out for use as stilts and swords and limbo bars: "Everyone loves sticks." And both of them ride their bikes all over town. OHora (Read the Book, Lemmings!) draws Maurice and Lotta and their animal friends in peaceful limes and olive greens splashed with turquoise and fuchsia. Friendly, woolly, and slightly disheveled-looking, the animals pad around in comfortable sneaks. Alliterative prose by Higgins (Everything You Need for a Treehouse) makes even the mishaps that ruin Maurice's and Lotta's carts sound poetic: "But what looked like a small stick was really a smashup... and what looked like some petals was really some peels." A local bike genius salvages one bicycle from the duo's two smashed ones, and they're off for more adventures-this time, together. This quirky anticonsumerist fable imagines a town in which uses can be found for the things most people abandon, small enterprises flourish, and communal kindness makes life rich. Ages 3-5. Author's agent: Rubin Pfeffer, Rubin Pfeffer Content. Illustrator's agent: Sean McCarthy, Sean McCarthy Literary Agency. (Apr.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
