The Great Peach Experiment 1: When Life Gives You Lemons, Make Peach Pie

The Great Peach Experiment #1

by Erin Soderberg Downing

Mix together a used food truck, a road trip that doesn't exactly go as planned, and a lot of pie, and you have the recipe for this sweet middle grade series starter brimming with humor, heart, and a family you'll fall in love with. Perfect for readers who gobbled down The Penderwicks and The Vanderbeekers of 141st Street.

Sweet summer has taken a rotten turn . . .

After a tough year, Lucy, Freddy, and Herb Peach are ready for vacation. Lucy wants to read all of the books on the summer reading list. Freddy wants to work on his art projects (when he isn't stuck in summer school). Herb wants to swim every day.

Then their dad makes a big announcement: one of the inventions their mom came up with before she passed away has sold, and now they're millionaires!

But Dad has bigger plans than blowing the cash on fun stuff or investing it. He's bought a used food truck. The Peaches are going to spend the summer traveling the country selling pies. It will be the Great Peach Experiment--a summer of bonding while living out one of Mom's dreams. Summer plans, sunk. And there's one more issue Dad's neglected: none of them knows how to bake. . . .

A perfect blend of humor, heart, and family antics, When Life Gives You Lemons, Make Peach Pie is a delectable treat to be gobbled down or savored slowly. (Slice of pie on the side, optional, but highly recommended.)

A Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection
Named to the Iowa Children's Choice List
Named to the Minnesota Maude Hart Lovelace List

Genres: Middle Grade, Realistic Fiction, Family, Childrens, Food, Contemporary, Fiction

272 pages, Paperback

First published April 6, 2021

About the author

I read and write lots of funny, adventurous, & heartwarming books for kids, tweens, and teens (and even a few romantic comedies for adults, too!) that are ultimately about finding your place, finding your people, and finding your voice. I always love book recommendations, so please send them my way. As a reader, I'm partial to contemporary romantic comedy, thrillers that keep the pages turning and have well-built characters, funny/original voices, quirky characters, and always kids' books with humor and heart.

Reviews

[Ms. B · Rating 3 out of 5]

What would be it be like to run a food truck for a few months with your family? Find out in this road trip adventure story about the Peach family; Dad, Lucy, Fred and Herb. Mom has passed away; Dad decides that's purchasing a food truck with money from an invention of Mom's will be a great way for the family to bond and reconnect. They decide to bake and sell pie.
Realizing the number of food trucks I see these days, I have to believe that there are young people who could relate to this story. This would also be a fun family read-aloud to kick off your summer break or for anyone who is fascinated or curious about food trucks, especially those who are from, live near or have visited any of the places (Memorable ones (IMO) include Duluth, MN; Betty's Pies in Two Harbors, MN; Minneapolis, MN; Chicago, IL; Wisconsin Dells; Madison, WI; Jackson, MI, Ann Arbor, MI; Columbus, OH; Kure Beach in North Carolina; and Deleware, OH) mentioned.

[Darla · Rating 5 out of 5]

Peach family life is messy, but not in a good way. Mom died of cancer two years ago and Dad is absorbed with his research work. Lucy Peach is the oldest and has had to step in to parent her two younger brothers -- Freddy and Herb (I see what you did there, Erin Soderberg Downing). Mom's great idea for solar clings finally sells and the family suddenly has over a million dollars to spend. Dad buys a food truck and proposes they take a one-month road trip, ending at an Ohio food festival, for the first part of summer vacation. Making yummy pies and travelling with a food truck takes some adjusting. Will the family experiment turn out to be a success? Will the four Peach family members agree on defines success? Can they take all of their mess and turn it into sweet success? Jump onto the food truck and find out. All three Peach kids are a part of the storytelling including excerpts from the journals of Freddy and Herb as well as postcards sent from Lucy to her Great-Aunt Lucinda back in their home city of Duluth. Peach power!

Thank you to Pixel+Ink and Edelweiss+ for a DRC in exchange for an honest review.

[Patrick · Rating 5 out of 5]

I also LOVED this story. I think it is Erin’s best yet. Loved the story, the characters, and the family road trip they took. So many wonderful life lessons and moments strewn throughout the pages. Can’t wait to share with my fourth grade readers. Perfect for kids in third, fourth, and fifth. A must read. Put it on your TBR list. You won’t be disappointed!

[Katy O. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love baking books so when this showed up in my JLG box in the spring I knew it would end up in my summer reading bag. It ended up being a quick, cute read that will surely satisfy any middle grade baker. I liked the references to amazing MG books throughout the book, specifically The Penderwicks, which this story emulates in some ways. As an adult reader I was a bit nonplussed by all the highly unrealistic details in the Peach family’s food truck endeavor, but then I read the afterward where the author acknowledges that she took MANY liberties and she is aware that aspects are highly unrealistic. I’m eager to read the next in the series which was foreshadowed here. Recommended for grades 3-6.

[Mollie Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Will definitely buy the rest of the series.

[Evelina | AvalinahsBooks · Rating 3 out of 5]

How I read this: Free ebook copy received through Edelweiss

Me at the start of this book:

But seriously, what is wrong with this dad?? That SHITTY, SHITTY dad!!! Oh, I am so angry. He does nothing, he doesn't listen to his children, he basically treats them like they're work subordinates in an office setting AND tells them they have to pick up the slack when HE'S the one doing nothing and living in his own little world. He's like some airhead, and he is incredibly selfish... So he lost his wife - but they lost their mother!!! Who's the adult here?? And now the oldest sister, still a kid herself, is mothering her two brothers, feeding them, teaching them to read and whatnot! AND he tells his kids to eat pie and only pie all day for the sake of his pie business, to ignore the stomach pain and challenge it! Oh man... If that was a real guy I could pull out of the book, I'd sucker punch him!!!

Me at the end of this book:

Well, it's a kids' book, so of course it was gonna work out. But I still hate the dad's guts. Oh my god. Simmering anger.

But don't listen to me! I had an absentee dad myself and I am unable to forgive even a fictional character for mistreating his kids, apparently. The book was good!! It's perfect for a middle grade reader. The non-dad characters were awesome. And it really made me want some pie! So I guess I have to simply add - content warning: SHITTY DAD. 😂

I thank the publisher for giving me a free copy of the ebook in exchange to my honest review. This has not affected my opinion.

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[Erin Downing · Rating 5 out of 5]

Full disclosure: I wrote this book, and I'm going to be really honest - it's my favorite book I've written. So with that said, I obviously give it 5 stars, along with a side of ice cream. The first book in THE GREAT PEACH EXPERIMENT series introduces the Peach family, who are traveling around the country, selling pie out of their newly-acquired food truck. 12-year-old Lucy, 10-year-old Freddy, 8-year-old Herb, and their dad are searching for a way to reconnect as a family after the loss of the kids’ mother, and decide to honor her memory by living out one of Mom’s lifelong dreams. The story is funny, heartwarming, and touching - I love the kids in the Peach family (the perspective shifts in each chapter, so the reader gets to know all three of them really well during the journey!), and their dad is frustratingly charming and quirky. Also, there’s a lot of pie - peach pie, key lime pie, apple crumb pie a la mode, turtle pie, French silk pie, cherry pie. Aren't you in the mood for pie now?!

[Afoma (Reading Middle Grade) · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Great Peach Experiment #1: When Life Gives You Lemons, Make Peach Pie is a wonderful introduction to a new middle grade series for fans of The Vanderbeekers. The Peach kids will worm their way into readers’ hearts without any trouble. If you enjoy books about families, food books, or middle grade books about road trips, this is the perfect book for you!

Read my full review on my blog.

Many thanks to the publisher for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

[Samantha (WLABB) · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Peach Family had been trying to adjust to life without their mother for the past two years, and it had not been easy without her. After the sale of one of their mother's inventions resulted in a windfall, the Peaches set out to fulfill one of her lifelong dreams - to run a food truck. Armed with a plan and an amazing pie recipe, the family was determined to enter and win the Food Truck Festival.

You know who loves a road trip? This girl! I had a wonderful time touring the midwest with this quirky family. I know everyone will easily love the Peach children. With their father mostly absent, they had formed a rather tight unit, and I could feel the sibling love between them. It was very sweet the way they encouraged and supported each other, but I will admit that I was most proud of how much each child grew over the summer. The youngest Peach was finally allowed to contribute in a meaningful way, while the middle Peach found his niche in a family of geniuses. They were growing into their own, while trying to mend their hearts and their family.

I have to admit, I wasn't always the biggest fan of dad. I gave him an inch, because he was grieving too, but he really wasn't in a position to lose all sight of his parental responsibilities. He left Lucy, the eldest Peach, to care for the home and her younger brothers, and well, it just wasn't fair. Don't worry, dad grows a bit on this road trip too as the family learns to work together, communicate better, and try to figure their new family dynamic.

This was a really sweet and touching story of a family trying to determine how to move forward after a great loss. This fun and zany road trip was punctuated with some beautiful moments which warmed my heart, and by the end, I was excited for what came next for this family.

*ARC provided in exchange for an honest review.

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[-ˏˋjamieˊˎ- · Rating 3 out of 5]

this was a cute mg story! i enjoyed the way the povs alternated between the three peach kids and how we got to see them each grow as the book progressed. the food truck and road trip vibes were great, but unfortunately, the story didn’t really stick with me. i found myself really frustrated with the dad, and i know it was for the plot and character development, but the way he acted just didn’t make for a very pleasant reading experience. i can definitely see this story connecting with kids going through something similar though!

[Stephanie Fitzgerald · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this! It was what I think of as a “gentle read”, about a family trying to pull together after the mother’s death. For two years the Peach family has been slowly drifting apart. Can buying a food truck and using it to sell pies at fairs and exhibitions, an unfulfilled dream their mom had, put them back on track as a family again? Or can a fracturing family never be fixed?
I would recommend this to anyone who loves reading books geared for middle-graders. I’ll be starting the sequel very soon!

[✨Veruca✨ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great concept, not so great book

[Roanna25 · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was okay. It really would have been so much better and believable if it had been based in an older time - the 60's the 70's or 80's in a pinch.
The other issue I had was the kids didn't sound like kids. And if you're going to write from the point of view of a 12, 10 and 8 year old than that is what they should sound like

[Shaye Miller · Rating 5 out of 5]

This new middle grade novel by Erin Soderberg Downing sure packs an emotional punch for being only 256 pages. Three Peach family children, 12-year-old Lucy, 10-year-old Freddy, and 8-year-old Herb, are left grieving the loss of their mother while their professor dad how thrown himself into his work. But this year, dad came up with a crazy idea to honor their mom’s memory. Over the summer they will live out one of Mom’s dreams – buy a food truck and travel the country, selling pies as a family. The only problem is, they know practically nothing about pie, about food trucks, about being a vendor, and their father has been emotionally distant since the loss of mom. This sets the stage for what could turn out to be a beautiful life-changing experience OR a complete disaster as the Peach family wrestles with loss, bonding, and problem-solving.

I appreciate that much of the food truck research was done beforehand by Dad (or else this venture couldn’t have been remotely possible). Additionally, I was impressed by the fact that we see realistic behaviors and feelings, like anger, sorrow, and frustration. They face truck mechanical troubles, differences in goals, camping struggles, problems with permits, and even baking disasters. But each member of the Peach family is focused on working together to make this a success. They all want to win the final vendor event, but perhaps there’s something more important to gain in the process.

Throughout the story, Lucy writes home to her aunt to share bits and pieces of their adventure. And we glimpse portions of Freddy’s journal sketches in each chapter, which adds charm to the road trip. By the end, I was all in – wanting the family to win, but also WANTING A SLICE OF PIE. Seriously, if this is a read aloud in the classroom or at home, make sure to provide pie for your listeners!

I’ll also note that I’ve heard this is just the first book in THE GREAT PEACH EXPERIMENT series, so I’ll be looking forward to more adventures with this beautiful family! Thank you to Pixel+Ink and Edelweiss+ for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

For more children's literature, middle grade literature, and YA literature reviews, feel free to visit my personal blog at The Miller Memo!

[Christy Goldberg · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted to love this book. I started off loving this book. But I absolutely can not stand the father in this story who leaves his daughter to pick up the pieces after his wife’s death. He’s selfish and inconsiderate. I would not want my kids to read this. Even though he comes around at the end, it takes his young children reminding him that they exist for it to happen.

[Samia · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5

[Jennifer Bohnhoff · Rating 4 out of 5]

12 year old Lucy Peach has been the surrogate mother for 10 year old Freddy and 8 year old Herb since their mother died two year ago. Her father, a university geology professor, has dealt with grief by submerging himself in his research, abandoning the family emotionally and, most of the time, physically. When one of mom’s inventions sell for over a million dollars, dad decides to use some of it to pursue one of her dreams and buys a used food truck. He bundles the three kids into it, and together they spend a summer traveling the Midwest while selling pies, bonding with each other, and moving through their grief and into the future.

Erin Soderberg Downing does a good job of presenting her characters to the reader. Lucy wants to believe the trip might unite the family, but isn't sure - and with good reason - that she can trust her father to follow through on his hairbrained plans. An avid reader, Lucy's personal goal on the trip is to read every book on a very impressive seventh grade summer reading list. Freddy, who feels like a plum in a family of Peaches, is artistic, creative, and can spout fun facts like a walking Ripley's Believe it or Not. By the end of the book, he's shown himself a natural and astute businessman. But it's Herb, whose big heart overflows with love for animals and lost things, including stuffed animals, mittens and toilet paper rolls, who steals my heart.

The father in the Peach family is sometimes a little harsh. Although he says he's taken a sabatical and bought the food truck to bring the family together, his dogged determination to win top honors at the Ohio Food Truck Festival takes precedence over everything, leaving Lucy, Freddy, and Herb frustrated and often overwhelmed with the responsibilities of making pies, selling them, keeping the food truck working and the plan on schedule. Eventually, he relents, and by the end of the book he has realized that his children are a greater prize.

This book is the first of a new series entitled The Great Peach Experiment.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Adventure-filled road trip novels are always fun and this one is no exception. Although it deals with some serious subjects (grief, parental neglect, misfunctioning families, etc.), it has a warm, upbeat vibe to it that keeps things from ever getting too serious or sappy. The balance works well for a middle-grade audience. At the story's center are three sympathetic, likable children who are easy to root for. Their father is harder to take. In reality, his neglect would have CPS pounding on his door (hopefully). In the book, his absenteeism is kind of laughed off as part of his stereotypical absent-minded professor persona and no real harm comes to his self-sufficient children while he takes his time coming to a gradual awakening of how he's mistreated his kids. This, combined with the whole let's-buy-a-food-truck-and-spend-the-summer-turning-it-into-a-business-even-though-we-have-no-clue-what-to-do idea, didn't feel very authentic, but I was willing to suspend my disbelief (especially since the author, herself, admits the Peach's experience doing so is HIGHLY fictional). I was just glad Mr. Peach finally started taking responsibility. Although these things bugged a bit, overall I found WHEN LIFE GIVES YOU LEMON, MAKE PEACH PIE an easy, entertaining read that teaches some good lessons about teamwork, priorities, individual strengths, and leaning on others to find healing from grief. While the book doesn't offer anything really original or outstanding, it's a decent read. I didn't love it, but I liked it.

If I could, I would give this book 3 1/2 stars; since I can't, I'm rounding up.

[Christie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I didn’t want this book to end, and I also wanted to hug it when it did!
The Peach family stole a piece of my heart. What’s not to love about a midwestern road trip, a pie-making food truck, a contest with a $10,000 prize to win, and a unique cast of characters sharing their sketches and postcards along the way?  I love that each family member chose their own individual goals for their summertime adventure as well. This is a book I foresee recommending to a number of my students and to teachers for read alouds. I hear a book 2 is in the works and I am enthusiastically awaiting the return of the Peach family. I always say the Vanderbeekers are my favorite family in kid lit and the Peach family is definitely joining them in the rankings of most lovable kid lit families.

[Yapha · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a very fun summer read! Who doesn't want to travel across the midwest in a food truck baking pies? Lucy, Freddy, and Herb are an incredible team of siblings. Lucy has held the family together since their mother's death two years before. Freddy feels like he is not as good as his siblings, but finds new skills on their road trip. As the youngest, Herb just wants to be taken seriously and be trusted to contribute his part. And their father? Well honestly I just wanted to shake him. Thankfully, by the end of the trip he also realizes what an amazing family he has. The only thing missing from this book was some good pie recipes!! Highly recommended for grades 4 & up.

[Julie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed this new MG novel by Erin! Fantastic characters, fun story, and connections to Minnesota and the Midwest. It made me think of such joyful road trip memories from childhood. I liked the illustrations and letters sprinkled throughout. This is one that I am thinking my students will really connect with. Thanks for the early copy, Erin.

[Diane · Rating 4 out of 5]

Children’s contemporary fiction that includes engaging characters. The plot centers around coping with changing family dynamics after the death of a parent. Humorous and heartwarming.

[Gabriella Crivilare · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think that if you came up with an equation that looked something like Chef (2014) + dessert x The Penderwicks, you might not only have written a math problem that would never be in Freddy Peach's summer math workbooks, but you would have described his--and his family's--life over the course of one fun and stressful month.

Since I love the movie Chef (and pie), when I found this book I knew I was going to have to pick it up, because it's basically the perfect storm of quite a few of my interests. And I'm really feeling the middle grade lately!

The story follows the three Peach siblings and their father, who has been an absent, oblivious workaholic since their mom died two years ago, leaving the eldest, Lucy, to pick up the slack. (We will get to this, I promise.) When it turns out that one of their mother's inventions has been sold for quite a bit of money, the father decides that it's finally time for him to go on sabbatical from his job as a geology professor and live out one of Mom's dreams--opening a food truck. It... sort of works the way the characters hope, sort of the way an adult who knows how hard it is to run a business would expect. The dad dubs the month that they are going to sell pies "The Great Peach Experiment" (Yet... doesn't name the truck that? Make that make sense for me, because it's way better than "Peach Pie Truck") and hopes that they are going to 1) win a food truck contest and 2) reconnect as a family.

This is made pretty difficult due to the father's attitude, unwillingness to actually sit down and listen to his kids, and his predilection for dropping everything to sneak away to check in on work. He doesn't seem to realize exactly how much his daughter Lucy has been picking up the slack and mothering her two younger siblings. Yes, I am going to acknowledge that his wife died, and that is something that's painful to go through. But as Lucy points out in a GREAT scene, he's the parent. She, a thirteen year old, shouldn't have had to step up and take over managing the house and family without even being asked. It's a pretty good example of women and girls automatically being expected to take on emotional and physical, house-related labor. Her ultimatum is totally deserved, and while I would have liked to see more atoning/a real apology from the father, this book is a bit too short to squeeze in much more than the amends he does try to make.

However, I will say that I love the length of this book, despite what I just mentioned. It comes in at around 250 pages, and I don't know about you, but I could use more middle grade novels that are under 300 pages and still manage to take me away for a bit and pack in a punch. The kids' characters were pretty well developed; it just didn't always have a great deal of internality, which isn't super surprising. I did have an issue with the fact that we were inside more than one character's head per chapter, and would have appreciated it if it had remained more consistent.

My one question regarding this book--which was "How can this possibly be a series, given that it seems to have a pretty conclusive ending?" seems to be answered by the very last page. Despite the fact that I wasn't completely in love with this book, I'm intrigued by the possibility of the sequel's plot, and I'll be looking out for it. And baking, probably.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you for sharing the arc!

For the most part, I really liked this book. It was nice to see a sort of different idea as far as a food truck. Also even though the mom is not in the book, women in science are always a plus.

My only fault with it is I just feel like they never really dealt with the grief and the pressure put on Lucy. So much of the book would talk about how the mom died two years ago, dad became an absentee parent, and Lucy pretty much took over having to parent her brothers which major yuck. There were a couple of times they got close but it never felt like the dad really opened up or cared. I'd have liked a more serious moment where they talked about the mom, how hard it was losing her, getting more personal. I know it's a middle-grade book but you can do that.

Overall it was a cute book, I could see my students liking it, and a gorgeous cover!

[Aubrey Jones · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Great Peach Experiment was a book I couldn't put down! Things have been very difficult for this family of 4 after losing their mother two years prior. But when one of her inventions makes a bunch of money, Mr. Peach decides it's time to make one of her late wife's dreams come true; The Peach family is hitting the road on the ultimate food truck adventure. I felt immediately connected to the characters and I couldn't wait to see their travels unfold. It's not always easy and they definitely hit a few detours along the way, but in the end, they all figure out how to be a new kind of family; one where they each have their place and feels the love of their mom from afar. The shout-out to so many amazing middle-grade books from Lucy's 7th-grade summer reading list was awesome

[Jennie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I stumbled across this little series, starring the Peach family, and this is the first book in the series. I have read number three and decided to pick up the other two in the series. This book to read about the Peach family deciding to buy a food truck and sell pies. They were not prepared for this endeavor, but they came out on the positive side after all. One thing that bothered me in this book was that Lucy, a rising seventh grader, turned down the corners of the pages as she marked her place in the books. I thought the author should have set a better example for children and mentioned that she used a bookmark each time.

[Bethe · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 stars. Add the Peaches to the book families you wish were your neighbors: Penderwicks, Vanderbeekers, etc. Love the story told through the eyes of all 3 children and the realistic father drowning his grief in work. Love that it was confrontational towards the resolution. Ready to see what adventures come next - hints at the end? Also, don’t miss the great books on Lucy’s 7th grade reading list - there are a few I still need to read!

[Niki Lueck · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read this one aloud to the kids. We got through it, but they were indifferent about the story initially. A large part of the build up is about the death of the kids' mother and the absent parenting from their father. While my kids could recognize the issues and sympathize with the characters, it was not relatable or interesting for them. The excitement of the food truck competition was enough to keep us reading, but overall it was just average.

[Jennifer Hottinger · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mom passed away, but one of her inventions sells which adds a quick million dollars for the family. Dad purchases a food truck and plans to spend the summer on the road with his children selling pies. So much happens along the way! Exciting, humorous, heartfelt novel of family making connections after loss and remembering what is most important-time together!
Book Posse

[Mallaree · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am loving some middle grade lately! This was a sweet book about a family who sets out on an unexpected adventure over the summer - running a food truck. As an adult I had to suspend a little disbelief as they made it seem almost too easy to run a food truck with 3 kids but the story was sweet. I love sibling bonds and this book was full of them. The dad was not my favorite character, I don’t love when middlegrade books have incompetent parents, but it went well with the story.