Lemons Blog Tour (guest post & giveaway)

I'm thrilled to have the Lemons Blog Tour stopping by today with a guest post from Melissa Savage and a book giveaway...

Lemons

by Melissa Savage

May 2, 2017

Crown BFYR

What do you do when you lose everything that means anything?

Nine-year old Lemonade Liberty Witt doesn’t know the answer to that question, except what her mom taught her. When life gives you lemons, you make lemonade. But what if those lemons are so big that you forget how?

How do you make lemonade out of having to leave everything you know in San Francisco to move to the small town of Willow Creek, California and live with a grandfather you’ve never even met? In a town that smells like grass and mud and bugs. With tall pines instead of skyscrapers and dirt instead of sidewalks. Not to mention one woolly beast lurking in the woods.

That’s right, Bigfoot.

A ginormous wooden statue of the ugly thing stands right at the center of town like he’s someone real important, like the mayor or something. And the people here actually believe he’s real and hiding somewhere out in the pine filled forests.

How can anyone possibly be expected to make lemonade out those rotten lemons?

Everything is different and Lem just wants to go back home. And then she meets Tobin Sky, the CEO of Bigfoot Detectives, Inc. and sole investigator for the town. He invites her to be his Assistant for the summer and she reluctantly agrees. At least until she can figure out her escape plan.

Together, Lem and Tobin try to capture a shot of the elusive beast on film and end up finding more than they ever could have even imagined.

Goodreads / Amazon / B&N / Indiebound

PRAISE

“An enjoyable and welcome exploration of sorrow, healing, and friendship.” —School Library Journal

“An enjoyable and comforting middle-grade handbook on navigating new experiences and the heartache of losing loved ones early in life.” —Kirkus Reviews

“Savage injects enough humor, mystery, and lively interaction among the characters to give this two-hanky debut a buoyant tone.” —Booklist

Reading, Writing, and LEMONS

by Melissa Savage

Reading has been a life guide for me ever since I was a young child. It was even a book that I read in elementary school called, Don’t Hurt Laurie by Willo Davis Roberts, a story about child abuse, that influenced my decision to work in counseling with children who have had a history of abuse and neglect. And it is my work with children and love of reading that influenced me to write issue driven books for kids. I love to write stories about adversities that kids are faced with in the world. I think it’s important for kids to understand that they are not alone in their struggles and that others share their experiences and feelings. And mostly that there is hope despite adversity.

Most recently I have been affected by a difficult loss in my own life and have since worked with children grappling with losses of their own and have found that grief and loss is a very difficult subject matter for many people to talk about. Yet it’s something everyone will face in their lives, even losses such as divorce, or a best friend moving away, or even saying good-bye to a beloved teacher at the end of a school year. So, I wanted to write a story about the adversity of loss and how healing can come in the form of the kindness and love and willingness to stand by another in their grief. Because it is with the support from others that can make a real difference in someone’s life when a difficult loss has occurred.

Why Bigfoot? I love science and history! I am fascinated when scientists discover unknown facts about our planet and beyond, including species of animals that were either thought to be extinct or they didn’t know existed. That makes the mystery of Bigfoot even more intriguing and fun. I wanted to share that with kids set in the very place where Roger Patterson and Bob Gimlin claimed to have filmed a real Bigfoot in 1967. I think the concept of grief can be a tough one, especially for children, and to provide a backdrop of adventure and fun is a nice balance when reading about difficult subject matter.

Lemons is a fun adventure searching for the elusive Bigfoot, however it is also a story about friendship, acceptance, kindness and most of all hope. The life journey that Lemonade Liberty Witt must endure is not unlike a journey others may face, it’s full of hardship and kindness, struggles and friendship, lemons and love. Lemonade learns in the end that the best way to endure her own lemons is to find gratitude in adversity and embrace new changes with optimism and courage while recognizing the gifts given despite the sadness loss can bring.

Melissa D. Savage is a writer and a child and family therapist. Her desire to write purposeful, issue-driven books for young people, coupled with her interest in cryptozoology and the mystery of Bigfoot, inspired her to write Lemons. Melissa lives in Minneapolis. You can follow her on Twitter at @melissadsavage, and visit her at melissadsavage.com. Twitter * Facebook

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I have one copy, from Crown BFYR, for one winner.

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-ends 5/19

-winner will be emailed and must claim prize within 48 hours

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