Chicken House Books ISBN 9781911077183 £6.99
I loved this book. It tells the tale of orphan Lemonade Witt who is sent to live with her out of time grandfather in a remote part of the US where on arrival she meets a boy who genuinely not only believes in but searches for Bigfoot… We are with Lemonade in the crushingly lonely early days of living with her grandfather, a relative she did not previously know, missing her mum and the school friends she grew up with and generally being displaced from every societal norm she is accustomed to. Of course, as time goes on and events take place she forms a relationship with her grandfather – himself displaced in that he became estranged from Lemonade’s mum many years ago. Lemonade becomes friends with Tobin, himself fighting demons and facing bullying from the neighbourhood kids. Their alleged sightings of Bigfoot are engagingly and dramatically described and I must confess to a feeling of disappointment each time they were proved false. This is a potentially fantastic book for KS2 children who have their own Bigfoot to deal with and I recommend it unreservedly.
Laura Manison Shore, Senior Lecturer in Early Years & Primary Education, UWE, Bristol
