Elvis, Me, and the Lemonade Stand Summer

Elvis, Me, and the Eagle Shores Trailer Park #1

by Leslie Gentile

It’s the summer of 1978 and most people think Elvis Presley has been dead for a year. But not eleven-year-old Truly Bateman – because she knows Elvis is alive and well and living in the Eagle Shores Trailer Park. Maybe no one ever thought to look for him on an Indigenous reserve on Vancouver Island.

It’s a busy summer for Truly. Though her mother is less of a mother than she ought to be, and spends her time drinking and smoking and working her way through new boyfriends, Truly is determined to raise as much money for herself as she can through her lemonade stand … and to prove that her cool new neighbour is the one and only King of Rock ‘n’ Roll. And when she can’t find motherly support in her own home, she finds sanctuary with Andy El, the Salish woman who runs the trailer park.

Genres: Middle Grade, Historical Fiction, Canada, Indigenous, Fiction, Childrens, Family

192 pages, Paperback

First published March 27, 2021

Reviews

[Kathie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can tell you right now that this will likely be my favourite book of the summer, and it will make my list of top favourites for 2021.

It's 1978, and Truly and her mom live in a trailer park on an Indigenous reserve on Vancouver Island. Andy El, the Salish trailer park owner, convinces Truly to start a lemonade stand to give her something to do for the summer. When Truly discovers that her mom's friend knows where her real father is, she makes a secret plan to use the profits from her lemonade stand to find him and bring him back to the trailer park. As a cover, she tells everyone she's saving for one of their neighbour's new puppies, and the community helps Truly by buying her lemonade and donating items to sell at her stand. Excitement builds for Truly when a person she's sure is Elvis Presley moves into the trailer park. But Truly's mom is spending less time at home and hasn't told her new boyfriend that she has a kid. As Truly spends more time with Andy El, she discovers the family she desperately seeks might be right in front of her. I wanted to hug Truly so many times for the tough life she had with a mom who didn't want to be a mom. The community support for Truly and the strong relationship between her and Andy El challenge stereotypes about trailer parks and Indigenous people.

This is a must-read book, and at 200 pages, it's perfect for a wide range of readers.

[theliterateleprechaun · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review later today

[Cheriee Weichel · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is beautifully written.

Truly Bateman is a character who took hold of me from the get go and won’t let go. This eleven year old is so authentic I’m going to be wondering how she turned out.
She lives in an Indigenous owned trailer park with Clarice, her disgrace of a mother. Luckily, the owner, Andy El, takes her under her wing and looks after her.
In the summer of 1978, a year after Elvis Presley’s death, Andy El has Truly set up a lemonade stand. Truly doesn’t expect much to come of her summer venture, but on the first day an Elvis impersonator shows up to rent one of the trailers. Truly is sure he is the real deal.
Her lemonade business turns out to be a success. The rest of the community steps up to buy her lemonade and contribute other things to sell. She makes friends with Andy El’s two grandchildren. Clarice is away most of the time with her new boyfriend. It’s the best summer of her life.
Truly tells everyone that she is saving up for a dog, but secretly plans to take the ferry to Vancouver, find her father, and bring him home to meet Elvis.
Before she gets a chance, something terrible happens.
I cried.

This book highlights the importance it taking a community to raise a child. It’s a book about stepping up and doing what is needed. It’s about love and finding the family you need.

It’s wonderful.

[bjneary · Rating 5 out of 5]

Many thans to Laurie Hnatiuk for recommending this awesome debut author middle grade book. Taking place in the year after Elvis Presley has died, Truly has a secret and it is that Elvis is now living in their trailer park. Owned by Andy El, the Eagle Shore Trailer Park near an Indigenous reservation, her son Raymond faithfully comes to help with repairs, buy food, and spread love and security to his mom, Andy El, his sister and her kids and Truly because Truly's mom is just awful. Totally self absorbed and spurned by her mother because she got pregnant, her mother lets her down is so many ways. Truly spends more time with Andy El sleeping on her front porch, washing her clothes and eating at Andy El's and this summer Andy El has an idea for Truly to raise money. This lemonade stand comes to represent so much to Truly---she sells the lemonade but residents give her books, muffins, and other things to sell. She is saving to try to find her father but she is keeping this a secret; she tells everyone she is saving for a puppy and everyone wants Truly to have this puppy. This book broke my heart time and again (her mother of course!!!) but Andy El and her family filled Truly's heart with love and determination, a must read for all! Highly recommended!

[✨ Brianna Raquel ✨ · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’ve been trying to read more middle grade to find books that I can show my son when he’s older, and I’ve read so many where the kid didn’t feel like a kid. Truly was a kid! She thought and acted like a kid. I empathize with her in a lot of ways and want nothing for the best for her. As I was reading, I wanted Clarice to leave so Truly can be her best without struggling to find food and tiptoeing around her mom, but when she did leave, I felt bad. Even though she was a bad mom, she was Truly’s mom. Clarice didn’t deserve Truly, so good riddance.

[Laurie • The Baking Bookworm · Rating 4 out of 5]

Elvis, Me and the Lemonade Stand Summer is an engaging late elementary/early middle school read from debut author Canadian Leslie Gentile who is an Indigenous writer/singer/songwriter of Salish and settler ancestry. This story is centred around eleven-year-old Truly Bateman, a young mixed-race girl living with her single mom in the late 1970's in a trailer park in an Indigenous reserve on Vancouver Island, BC.

It is a heartwarming (and a bit heartbreaking) story with characters readers will enjoy. Through Truly's POV, Gentile introduces issues of microaggressions and discrimination against Indigenous peoples as well as family dysfunction and neglect, but in a way that is understandable and at an appropriate age level for children.

This is also a story about community and family, in all its many and varied forms. Readers' hearts will go out to Truly who is such a lovely soul, despite her dysfunctional family life. Her sweet temperament and connection to those around her, particularly her bond with Andy El (her elderly Salish neighbour) is endearing and through their unique bond, and the connection Truly has with her community in the trailer park, we see the true meaning of family and the adage 'it takes a village to raise a child'.

Elvis, Me and the Lemonade Stand Summer is a sweet story that tackles bigger issues in bite-sized pieces that are easy for kids to digest and a great way to start conversations about racism, respect for different cultures and the different forms families can take.

[Zara Hossain · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this in gr.5 for silver birch! At first, I lwk didn't want to read this because the cover and title didn't seem interesting but oh my gosh i did not expect this book to make me cry. Justice for Truly, she deserved a better mom. ✊️

[Morrigan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely loved this book. Such a sweet story and endearing characters. If I could, I'd give it ten stars.

[Becky Hall · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sweet middle grade novel.

[Mrs Heidrich · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 rounded up to 5

This is a beautiful story about the sometimes difficulties in families sometimes and the amazingness that found family and community can bring. This is our of our district Top 10 this year in Surrey Schools.

[Kirsten Hastings · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this on Abby’s recommendation! 😍 Solid middle grade book but she didn’t warn me that I was going to cry!

[Kay ‼️ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Forgot to update this… anyways I read this cuz of school lmao.

[Stephanie Fitzgerald · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely adored this book!
Truly Clarice Bateman tries not to set her expectations of life too high. Seems that every time something good happens, bad things are always following just behind. This summer of 1978, just before she turns twelve, Truly is letting herself dare to believe that her situation is improving. She’s making money at her lemonade stand, thanks to the good people in the trailer park who become her regular customers (and suppliers of goods to sell!) Truly also has a mystery to try to solve, involving a friendly newcomer to the park. Mr. Aaron Kingsley certainly resembles the late King of Rock and Roll, but no one else seems as curious about him as Truly has become…
Wonderful, nostalgic middle-grade read! And I’m jumping straight into the sequel!

[Stephanie H · Rating 5 out of 5]

After her friend Andy El insists Truly set up a lemonade stand for the summer, Truly learns important lessons about responsibility, friendship, and the meaning of family.

This book was just heartbreakingly sweet. The reader really feels for a kid like Truly who is so innocent and lovable but has been dealt a rough hand. I love that it has an unspoken premise of “it takes a village” and that there is such a real sense of community in the trailer park. The book has a lot of dark undertones, but is so beautiful.

I think this book would be a great way to introduce younger readers to difficult themes like institutionalized racism, casual racism, imperfect families, and several other really tough topics in a safe way. It’s a teaching story that is also uplifting and written entirely through the eyes of a child without much deep adult explanation of why things are the way they are, which would invite young readers to think about it themselves and doesn’t come across as preachy.

I can’t say enough about how much I liked this book and how it made me feel a lot of emotions. Beautifully done.

[Laurie Hnatiuk · Rating 5 out of 5]

Truly lives with her hard-drinking mother Clarice in a trailer park on a Salish Reserve, but the owner, Andy El is more like her parent. Andy El convinces Truly to run a lemonade stand for the summer to give her something to do, knowing Clarice will be absent more than present. Truly agrees and tells Andy El she will save to buy one of the puppies from the strawberry farm but secretly plans to use the money to take the ferry to Vancouver to find her dad. As the summer progresses, the community (including one that suspiciously looks like Elvis Presley) becomes regular customers and contributors purchasing and donating items to support Truly. Truly finally comes to understand that family does not have to be blood and was always right there all along.

The sense of how we define family and community and how that slowly emerged and became the highlight was well-crafted, and I hope that readers will be able to take this and apply it to their own lives. So many secondary characters are well developed and again contribute to that community feeling. The setting for the book was 1978, and Truly discovering Agatha Christie’s Miss Marple books was another huge connection for me, although I was older than her. Kids meet a classic mystery author, character and rock legend who may be unfamiliar presented in a manner where readers may feel compelled to find out more. Finally, I appreciated the blatant and specific examples of racism that open doors for discussion. Too often glossed over, Leslie Gentile tackles it head-on, not only with examples but its impact.

A short and powerful read, this had me in tears in some parts and full of joy at others – don’t miss this stunning debut.

[Dest · Rating 4 out of 5]

This didn't feel particularly historical, but it is set in 1970s, so it's not as crazy as it sounds to believe Elvis faked his own death and is now living in your trailer park in British Columbia. The title emphasizes the Elvis mystery, but for me it was not the heart of the story. The real message here is about found/chosen family. I suppose the Elvis story is related -- does it matter if he's the real Elvis? Does it matter if your family is related to you by blood?

Truly is one of those tough cookies with a good head on her shoulders despite having an irresponsible, neglectful single parent. She is watched over by the owner of the trailer park who is like a grandmother to her. Truly says, "I know my dad is an Indian. Clarice [the mom] has never bothered to tell me anything about him, so this is just guesswork on my part." Truly has darker skin and hair and figures she must take after her dad. I assumed Truly would find her father and connect to her indigenous heritage, but that is not exactly how things play out. Huge spoiler ahead:

"I'll be your dad, and Andy El is now officially and legally your grandmother."
I stared at him. "You really did that for me?" I whispered.
Raymond grinned at me. "Well, the way I see it, the government says I'm an Indian because I got a card that says I am. In a way, it makes me an Indian on paper. I know lots of people who are Native, and for a bunch of different rea­sons, they don't get that. paper. So, the government says they aren't really an Indian. Doesn't make a lot of sense, that some of us are Indians, and some of us aren't, just based on a government paper. So I figured, what the hell. If I can be a Government Paper Indian, I can be a Government Paper Dad, too."

So not only is this story exploring chosen family, it's also got something to say about what makes a person Native.

[Rosemary · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don't get why there are so many good reviews. For me, it is just a O.K. book which doesn't deserve so many hypes. Just because it has "Elvis" in the title?

The writing style is kinda bland; the whole book reads like a journal of a twelve-year-old who just writes for her Summer Holiday homework. It has some good elements and fun scenes, but not enough for a decent work. I like the people who live in trailer park, but the characterization is also bland. You can't name them any memoriable peronality apart from being "exceptionally good" to our protagonist the girl Truly.

But the main problem I have is the characterization of its anti-protagonist, the mom Clarice. I get the author tries to picture her as one of those toxic mother who cares about themselves more than their kids. However, you cannot done your characterization just by letting the daughter Clarice keep "telling" the readers how horrible her mom is instead of showing. All I am being reading is how Truly keeps avoiding her mom, and at least in the book her mom doesn't even lash out her temper towards Truly. All of the terrible behavior of Clarice is very predictable and unimaginative, that even my mom was more looking like a hell than her. I can say there are far more worse parents than Clarice, who can treat their kids in far more horrible ways.

Hell, when the book actually starts to show why Clarice is "less maternally," like embarrasing Truly in front of the public or being irresponsible or "politically incorrect", the bland writing style doesn't facilitate to flesh out the scene to make the readers feel like "oh my, this is horrible." Instead, those scenes come and go so quickly like being kissed by a butterfly; you have to feel the weight of the life to be moved.

[Darla · Rating 5 out of 5]

Like a refreshing glass of lemonade, reading this summery title made my day.

What if Elvis didn't die, but relocated?

What if he decided to spend the summer after his reported death at the Eagle Shores Trailor Park on an island off the coast of Vancouver?

I decided to go along with the premise and was I ever rewarded. Perhaps it helps that I was about Truly's age when we saw reports in our newspaper about Elvis passing. I must say that Truly Clarice Bateman's list of why this guy is the real Elvis was pretty convincing. While those around her see an Elvis tribute act, Truly sees the real deal. After all, his name is Aaron Kingsley (not too big of a switch from Elvis Aaron Presley) and he sounds just like the real deal and he has sequin jumpsuits! Sold!

If you are like me you might need your tissues a time or two, especially when you read about Truly's birthday party. And there is a sequel out there! To my friend Autumn who shared a list of Elvis titles which brought this book to my attention and to the author I just have to say, "Thank you. Thank you very much."

[Melanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a middle school book that my next door neighbour’s mother wrote. And it is absolutely delightful! I enjoyed it immensely!!

Truly is an amazing kid with a rather distant, disengaged mother. But she has a “found family” in the neighbours, many indigenous, at the trailer park where she lives. Truly sets up a lemonade stand the summer of her twelfth birthday (1978), in hopes of making enough money to get a bus/ferry to Vancouver, to find her Dad. We see here, the kindness of strangers in helping a young girl find love and acceptance! One of whom, Truly is convinced, is the real Elvis, hiding out in a small trailer park on Vancouver Island. While this is technically a children’s book, I thoroughly enjoyed it! It’s short, sweet and heat warming, I loved it!

[American Mensa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Elvis, Me, and the Lemonade Stand Summer by Leslie Gentile is a fiction chapter book for both boys and girls ages seven to eleven years old. My favorite part of the book is the parade near the end of the book. I think other boys and girls would like the lemonade stand best. I also think other boys and girls would like it when Truly's lemonade stand turns into an everything stand. I also think a funny part is how she makes so much money for her lemonade stand. It is especially good because Elvis, Me, and the Lemonade Stand Summer is Leslie Gentile's first novel.
Review by Dominic D., 10, Tampa Bay Mensa

[Almira · Rating 5 out of 5]

Elvis Presley has been dead for a year ---- the time of this story is 1979 --- or at least that is what everyone believes, but not 11 year old Truly Bateman, not when he drives up and moves into the Eagle Shores Trailer Park on Vancouver Island, BC.

Truly's mother is not much of a mother to her in the best of times, Truly spends much of her time with Andy El who manages the trailer park on the Salish reserve.
She plans on making enough money working for Andy El's lemonade stand to travel to Vancouver, to find her father, who she has never known.

Life, as usual, gets in the way.
Enjoyed how the community rallied around Truly throughout the summer.

[Amy Perrey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Elvis, Me, And The Lemonade Stand Summer By Leslie Gentile #willowawardsnominee #willowawards #stbernadettereads #rcsdreads this is such a great read! Truly is an eleven year old girl that lives at the trailer park. Her mother is never around so the nice grandmother Andy El takes Truly under her wings. She convinces her to start a summer lemonade stand. Truly isn’t excited about this but gives it a try. Then her first customer comes and it’s Elvis Presley! She starts to save money to go to Vancouver in hopes to find her father.

[Jennybeast · Rating 4 out of 5]

So much heart in this one -- while the relationship between Truly and her neglectful mother is a hard read, the beautiful way that her community comes together to take care of her is a real treat to read. With elements of sleuthing (is he really Elvis?), entrepreneurship (lemonade stand that keeps adding new products), and the potential to find her father (overheard conversation and cunning plan), Truly has a summer to remember. I forgot, there are also puppies! Particularly love the relationship Truly has with Andy El and her extended, kind, Salish family.

[Vivian Ayabaca · Rating 5 out of 5]

i read this book in grade six as well and omg i loved it so so much, i’m easy to please when it comes to books so that might be why every single book i read is like 4 or 5 stars but i loved when everybody just kept contributing to her lemonade stand with like muffins and a tip jar and other little things to sell, honestly if the book was literally only people giving her new things for her stand, i would have loved it just as much. it had some depth with her relationship with her grandmother and mom and I would probably read this book again.

[Larissa]

A quick, heartfelt read. It had me rooting for the protagonist and wondering what was going to happen with her quest to find her dad. I love seeing a mixed-race protagonist (Truly's mom is white and her father is Coast Salish); we need more of those. I also love that her extended family and community stepped in to take care of her when her mother could not.

A good fit for kids in grades 5-8.

[Mrs. Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was such a touching story, really a 4.5 rating. It's never easy to read about neglected children, but the community that rallied around the main character was so touching and spoke to the humanity found around us. Instead of dwelling on what we don't have embracing the good around us. Definitely one to read!

[Julie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Truly and her mom live in a trailer park on a Salish Reserve, but Truly's mom chases boyfriends and drinks. A lot.

I loved seeing how the community rallied around Truly and I think the story will spark great discussions about family and racism.

Note: Coming in at 199 pages, this book will really appeal to a wide range of readers.

[Jaime · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good story that involves a child dealing with a less than ideal family situation. This would be a really great book club book for kids to read. The discussion we could have about different parenting styles would be really interesting. It's sad to think this is how some kids truly live. Could be really triggering for some kids as I thinking taught kids in similar situations before

[Steph · Rating 5 out of 5]

I LOVED THIS BOOK SO MUCH. For our middle grade readers who have non-ideal family situations or parents that are going through their own stuff and cannot be there in the way they should for them, THIS BOOK will be a beacon of light and hope and make them feel seen. Charming, empathetic, and absolutely wonderful in all the ways.

"Truly, you got a family already, right here, don't you see that?"

[Mike Broderick · Rating 5 out of 5]

I definitely loved this middle school novel. I like the combination of social justice (just a hint of it), a good story and the interwoven nature of the beginning of some mature themes. I recommend this one for everyone.