The Lemonman: A Party, Some Rain and Wiggleworm Lane. Natasha Ferrill. Illustrated by Jos� Pou. n.p., Applenook Publishing (www.thelemonman.com), 2013. 32 pp., pbk., $11.95. ISBN 978-0-9869464-1-7. Kindergarten-grade 2 / Ages 5-7. Review by Inderjit Deogun. **� /4

excerpt:

�Mr. Lemonman, I have a proposition and I need it to be heard,� Wormington said with great conviction as he stated every word.

�The Worm Community needs your help, we need more rain to fall, And we know how to make it happen, we�re just a bit too small.�

�But how can you force the rain to fall or tell the sun to go back to bed?� The Lemonman asked with great curiosity, and then this is what Wormington said.

�Down Wiggleworm Lane, at the end of town, stands a very magical wall, It�s built with bricks far into the ground and it�s at least one hundred feet tall!

By the wall there is a lever, bright green and somewhat round, All that needs to be done is to turn it, so the lever points down to the ground.�

�We would do it ourselves,� one worm piped up, �but we�re much too weak and small, But you, on the other hand, are much stronger and not to mention quite tall!�

It�s a typical April afternoon until Mr. Lemonman is invited to a tea party at Wormington the Third�s home. Upon Mr. Lemonman�s arrival, he learns that this is no social call. Instead, Wormington has a proposition: he wants Mr. Lemonman to make it rain by turning a very important lever. Mr. Lemonman wholeheartedly agrees to help his new friends, not thinking anything could possibly go wrong.

     Natahsa Ferrill�s A Party, Some Rain and Wiggleworm Lane is the second book in �The Lemonman� picture book series, the first being The Lemonman: A Picnic, a Toad and Swampwater Road. This second installment is not only sweet and endearing but also educational with a strong moral. Ferrill highlights a number of themes, including consequences, the environment and morality but does so in a relatable way. Though the story, itself, is wordy at times, Ferrill�s rhyming couplets are almost always perfectly paced. She cleverly identifies the untrustworthy villain of the story, Wormington the Third, by making him a worm and not a fruit or vegetable like all the other residents of Applenook. A Party, Some Rain and Wiggleworm Lane is a fun and playful tale that children will not be able to resist.

Recommended.

Inderjit Deogun is a communications professional in Toronto, ON.

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Published by The Manitoba Library Association ISSN 1201-9364

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