Meeting enterprising children is a source of inspiration both for other children and adults. There is always something to learn from a child's determination, as the wonderful story of Tonya Duncan Ellis's Sophie Washington: Lemonade Day shows. This book introduces you to young Sophie and her friends, a group of kids who decide to run their Lemonade Day stand. Their choice will bring them lots of fun as well as challenges, as they are going to face all the difficulties of first-time entrepreneurs. As any entrepreneur does, Sophie and her friends will have to learn from their mistakes, solve problems, and get creative to be successful, earn money, and help charity.

Sophie Washington: Lemonade Day is one of the best books to teach children about entrepreneurship. Although it is not very long (and a young reader will probably like it), Tonya Duncan Ellis has condensed all the elements of entrepreneurship and explained them clearly in these pages. Thanks to Sophie and her friends, children will realize how delicate and fascinating running a business is. They will also understand how important it is to plan each step to get an excellent result. Above all, I was positively impressed by the attention given to charity. The episode set in the animal shelter is memorable in this regard. I am sure it will make future entrepreneurs realize that business is a means of enriching their communities and not just themselves. There is wisdom and fun in the pages of Sophie Washington: Lemonade Day, so I highly recommend it to kids and adults as well.

Do you have a great money-making scheme? How about selling lemonade on a hot summer’s day? Do you think it would generate a good income? After planning, advertising, making the lemonade stand, and buying supplies, plus sharing the proceeds with your partners, what are the chances of you making a bundle? Well, sixth-grader Sophie Washington and her friends are keen to give it a try. Lemonade Day is coming, a nationwide event solely intent on promoting young entrepreneurs. But, things are not always as easy as it seems even when you consider donating to a good cause, like the local animal shelter. Perhaps the family dog was jealous when he took the cause to heart and destroyed the lemonade-making supplies. And that’s not all. Between friendships, teamwork and the art of being a successful entrepreneur, Sophie and her friends have a lot to learn.

Tonya Duncan Ellis’s middle-grade chapter book, Sophie Washington: Lemonade Day, is another installment in the popular Sophie Washington series. The plot begins with an interesting introduction to the young people in their first failed attempt to babysit, which also turned into a disaster when they upended Sophie’s mother’s box of business files. The plot then evolves over a need to make money and the idea of following the nationwide event of Lemonade Day. Sounds easy enough. The entire plot continues as an amusing bell curve of trial and error and lessons learned the hard way. The key element of this entire story is the power of friendship and working together as a team. Secondary, of course, is the ingenuity and desire to learn entrepreneurship, a real tongue-twister of a word. And, determination – Sophie never really does give up in any of her previous adventures, certainly not in this one. A great read for the middle-grade audience.