The Lemonade War

“And he couldn’t get into that. It was too…too complicated. Too hurtful.”

While Evan is capable of understanding people, he struggles to express his own insecurity about school. As the novel begins, he refuses to talk to Jessie or his mother about what is really bothering him, feeling that it is “too complicated.” By pushing down this feeling, Evan ends up driving away his sister and starting the conflict that will lead to the lemonade war.

“This was great news. Why didn’t Evan see that? They always had fun together at home. Now they could have fun in school, too.”

Jessie has great difficulty accessing other people’s perspectives, including her brother’s. When they get the news that the siblings will both be in the same fourth-grade class, Jessie is overjoyed, but can’t understand why Evan doesn’t feel the same way as. As a young person who struggles with making friends, Jessie feels like it will be more “fun” to have Evan in her class. Unbeknownst to her, Evan is conflicted by the news and feels that her academic success will overshadow him in the coming school year.

“‘It will not be fun,’ said Evan. ‘School. Isn’t. Fun.’”

Evan’s academic difficulties have led him to feel that school is not a positive space for him. Despite being a socially adept child, Evan’s insecurities are evident here and will go on to be a major driving force in the novel. Had Evan faced his insecurities about his academic failings early on, the lemonade war would not have happened.