Through the Looking Glass Children's Book Reviews
The Lemon Sisters
Illustrator: Tatjana Mai-Wyss
Picture Book
For ages 5 to 7
Penguin, 2006 ISBN: 0399240233
One morning, an old lady wakes up and she knows immediately that it has snowed during the night. She looks outside, and sees three girls playing in the snow. Seeing them playing and interacting, the old lady remembers the times when she and her two sisters, Rita and Mae, used to play in the snow. She watches as the three girls pretend to make oatmeal on a pretend snow stove in a pretend snow pot. The old lady then remembers how she and her sisters made “real lemon ices” when they were girls by mixing snow with lemon juice and sugar.
The old lady gives the three girls some lemons and sugar and watches as they make their own lemon ices. Sadly she thinks about her sisters, both of whom live so far away. What makes her loneliness even harder to bear is that today is her birthday, and she has no one to celebrate with. Or at least that’s what she thinks.
In this heart-warming picture book, Andrea Cheng celebrates the close bond that connects siblings. She shows her readers how three elderly sisters never stop loving one another, and how three little girls are able to enrich the lives of the three sisters in a wonderful way.
