Truly, 11, lives at the Eagle Shores Trailer Park on the Vancouver Island Coast Salish reserve. She looks forward to a summer of loneliness and boredom. Her mother, Clarice, is rarely home, and Truly has no friends. Since her mother disappears for days at a time with new boyfriends, Truly must rely on the owner of the trailer park, Andy El (Ella Charlie is her real name), for friendship and support. Andy El helps Truly set up a lemonade stand to get her started on a summer activity which might even earn her some money. “It was to give me something to do through this whole long, hot, boring summer, since she knew I had nothing to look forward to at the trailer park.”
Truly is thrilled when a man who looks just like Elvis stops to buy a drink from her lemonade stand. He decides to rent a trailer and stay for the summer. Truly now believes she has met Elvis Presley! Later that week, she visits a farm and finds a new litter of puppies. She instantly falls in love with one of them and dreams of adopting it. How will she find the money to feed it, and will Clarice even let her keep it? Clarice has a hard time making ends meet with her job at the bar and her part-time sewing business. She spends her money partying with boyfriends who never last long. Truly has a grandmother, Mrs. Bateman, in town who hates her and her mother. She has no idea who her father is until one day a friend of her mother says that she has seen him in Vancouver. Truly starts dreaming of taking a trip to Vancouver to find her father.
the book was read as a class and i didnt like it that much its not my style of book but you may like it
Great book and love the drama that occurs and I love that it was about Elvis and showed how indegonous people were treated back then.
ithough it was reall good
it has some interesting plots like. how truly immediately new it was elvis even tho a lot of elvis impersonators look like him and that he lied to his “babysitter” and set up a lemonade stand to save up to see his dad.
It has a good story line but I found it a little slow.
This book wasn’t my favorite. It didn’t give me a great beginning to get interested but I started to like the book as the story went along, so I think its was a good book.
Good soup. and it was long like Elvis. Fun to read with my class.
This book was amazing, I liked it mainly because It involved Elvis but I liked the storyline and the setting and just the overall feeling of the book.
It was interesting to listen to.
i liked this book but i think it would be better for some one more interusted in elvis
The book was heartfelt towards the main character because of the lack of responsibility from the mother and the friendship between the children. Overall the book was a nice refreshing light read after a long day. I would love to read it again.
Grade 6 student Hillhurst school
I.T.
Sunday, January 23, 2022
Elvis, Me, And The Lemonade Stand Summer
Leslie Gentile
Fiction
The author Leslie Gentile, who wrote Elvis, Me, and The Lemonade Stand Summer, was able to describe each character and give them their own personality. I was able to understand what each character was thinking and feeling throughout the book. From when Truly first met Elvis, to seeing her lemonade money stolen by her mom. I could feel my heart going up and down and side to side as I read the heartfelt story of Truly and her struggles. Truly starts off at the trailer park where Andy El, the owner of the reserve, gives Truly the idea of starting a lemonade stand. That’s where Truly met who she believes is Elvis Presley, who becomes a good friend to her throughout the story. Along with being teased at school for being indigenous, she also has to battle the problems her mother, Clarice, throws at her. Truly lives with her mother at the trailer park. But her mom isn’t the best parent. She stays out late, always going on dates, and leaves Truly on her own all the time. Luckily, Andy El takes Truly in on hard times. Truly then finds out that her dad may be in Vancouver. Now, Truly plans to save up her lemonade money to go visit her dad. But something really big happens that makes her rethink her trip to visit her dad. The climax in the story is so emotional and really tugs on your heart.
The book Elvis, Me, And The Lemonade Stand Summer is a hopeful, yet a heart-tugging, story that can open our eyes to what some people like Truly go through. Truly feels alone, with no one to turn to or to care for her. But once she finds the family she never had, all that changes. She doesn’t care about what people think of her at school. She doesn’t have to worry about carrying the weight of the world on her shoulders and fending for herself, without any family looking out for her. She now feels like she belongs and gets to do things she never did, and be a kid. She found a family who cares, respects her, and raises her by being there for her. And that is what everyone needs. To go through life not having anyone to rely on, that’s hard. But Truly powers through and life rewards her with the family she never had.
I have read books that have been inspired by the same thing, being alone with no one, no family, no support. And I know there are people who have gone through life thinking they don’t belong and have no family. And as much as it’s unfair, it happens, and sometimes, it doesn’t turn out well for those people. But for people like Truly, who got help, things began to make sense. The world came off her shoulders, and she felt safe and free from her dread. This book explains how Trudy felt with her mother and with no one else. Once she got help, everything changed for the better.
But while Truly had her struggles, she also had her pros. She had friends who cared for her, and who soon became very important to her. She has Andy El, who was there for her at the very beginning, letting her sleep on the porch and letting her just be at her place, away from her struggles with her mom. She had Raymond, Andy El’s nephew. She had Esther, Andy El’s daughter and Esther’s twins, Linda and Agnes. She also had who is supposedly Elvis Presley, who gave her the best gift of all, a friend. Someone who could look out for her and be there for her.
The book is perfect for bringing up conversations about what this book talks about. It talks about what Truly goes through living without her father with a mother who doesn’t care while being indigenous. The book helps you to understand what people with no parents feel like and what they do to get through it. Truly just wanted a family, and something to go right for her. She thought things never did, but really they have been, and when she feels that her life is going right, things change for the better. One thing I really enjoy about this book is the quality of writing. Anyone could read this book and have a full understanding of what is going on. Not only that but the events and theme of this book may spark different emotions and ideas, unlike mine, for example. Truth be told, I cannot say that I have been through what Truly goes through, but maybe another reader has, and that will spark another set of thoughts and feelings other than mine most likely. And that is what makes this book so diverse and relatable whether you are indigenous or not or old or young.
Truly is like many in the world who have to face unfair challenges, but she also shows that with the help she can find her way and give her something to look forward to other than worry or stress or fear of being alone. This book is something that should be recommended to readers because not only is it entertaining, but it is also emotional and makes you intrigued about what will happen to Truly and what she will face as her story unfolds. Praises for Elvis, Me, And The Lemonade Stand Summer.
I read the book, Elvis, Me, And The Lemonade Stand Summer by Leslie Gentile. This book is about a young girl named Truly who wants to find her dad who disappeared after her birth. Along the way she learns that she has all she needs right in the family and friends she already has.
I liked the plot of this book. At first, I thought it was boring, but then I kept reading and it got more interesting. The thing I liked most about the plot was that it was really original, which made it more appealing. The author had a really great imagination coming up with all the detail. When Truly, the main character, found the letter from Angela (Truly’s mom’s friend who moved to Vancouver to go to university) about finding her Dad, that’s when it got interesting. She started saving up to go to Vancouver to meet her Dad. She told people that she was saving up for a dog, which was a half-lie because she thought her Dad would get her a dog. She was so determined to save up her money because she wanted an actual family.
I also like the character development in the book. The author used characters in an unusual way. For example, how she added Elvis Presley into the book as a character was surprising to me. When Elvis visited Truly’s lemonade stand Truly was the only one who thought it was the real Elvis because everyone thought he had died a year before. Truly started making a list comparing the Elvis who visited her trailer park to what she knew about the famous one. They were both singers, they both liked peanut butter sandwiches, and they both had the same catchphrases. I enjoyed her detective work trying to prove this wasn’t a knock-off Elvis impersonator.
Finally, I liked the realism in the book. I normally read fantasy books and graphic novels about magic and superpowers. This book had none of that but I still liked it and it was still engaging. It was different reading about something that can happen in real life rather than magic.
I recommend this book to everyone, but especially to people who aren’t as interested in action and like something a little more realistic. It was a really good book and I’ll probably read it again.
Elvis, Me, and the lemonade stand summer is an amazing experience and a joy to read.
From the moment I opened the book to the very end of it, I was hooked. The exposition was flawlessly implemented and didn’t feel intrusive at all.
All of the characters felt like real people, from their unique personalities to the way that they act none of them felt unnecessary.
The plot is more unique then the plots in other books and feel like something that could actually happen, and due to this the majority of people can actually relate to it.
There is one spelling mistake in the book but i forgot where it is but other than that this book is one of the better ones
My recommendation:
9/10 a great purchase
It was okay i found my self getting bored and losing focess
i didnt like this book that well but i know that it was a good message because of the lemonade stand and how there doing t to make money