Elvis, Me, and the Lemonade Stand Summer

Winner of the 2021 City of Victoria Children’s Book Prize

Winner of the 2022 Jean Little First-Novel Award

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 at on the Eagle Shores First Nation 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.

Winner of City of Victoria Children's Book Prize 2021 (Canada) Winner of Jean Little First-Novel Award 2022 (Canada) Commended for OLA Best Bets 2021 (Canada) Short-listed for Rocky Mountain Book Award 2022 (Canada) Short-listed for SYRCA Diamond Willow Award 2022 (Canada) Short-listed for Hackmatack Children's Choice Book Award 2023 (Canada) Short-listed for Red Cedar Award (BC Young Readers' Choice) 2023 (Canada) Short-listed for Geoffrey Bilson Award for Historical Fiction for Young People 2022 (Canada) Nominated for Forest of Reading - Silver Birch Award 2022 (Canada) Nominated for MYRCA Sundogs Award 2023 (Canada)

“"Truly, who's the main character, just kind of jumps off the page into your heart. ... I think you should look out for this one around award season."”

“Leslie Gentile has created a touching and vibrant novel. Her characters are well-crafted and realistically portrayed. … Elvis, Me, and the Lemonade Stand Summer leaves readers with a memorable message about the power of empathy and kindness to change lives. Highly Recommended.” 5/5 Stars

-- Myra Junyk CM Magazine
“... Gentile has offered up a profound meditation on the meaning of ‘family’ and the ways in which kinship, love and responsibility can extend far beyond the boundaries of biology.” -- Ildiko Sumegi Canadian Children's Book News

“This incredible middle grade novel exudes love and heartache. Readers will instantly be drawn to Truly and Andy El and will delight in the beautiful friendship they have cultivated.”

-- Stephanie Lamb Storytime with Stephanie

“A refreshingly positive, nurturing portrayal of First Nations culture and people … Gentile creates amazing characters through which she addresses neglect and dysfunctional families, as well as issues of micro aggressions and discrimination against Indigenous peoples … An engaging and layered story of identity and determination … [that] captures what it’s like to live on reserve and what it is to have people who genuinely care about you.”

-- Geoffrey Bilson Award for Historical Fiction for Young People jury citation, Tina Athaide, Christina Minaki, Brandon Mitchell, and Gail de Vos

“With its leisurely pace, this novel feels exactly like a child’s summer … Gentile’s characters are richly realized, and the story takes on challenging material — abuse, identity, racism and more—in ways that respect its audience … The story is approachable and good-natured, wearing its subversive subtext lightly as it presents an unredeemed bad mother, a plot detail that involves questioning the Indian Act and an upending of the white saviour trope … A middle-grade summer story that plays with the genre in ways both satisfyingly familiar and refreshingly new.”

-- Jean Little First Novel Award jury citation, Maggie de Vries, Sarah Ellis, and Kit Pearson

Leslie Gentile’s debut novel, Elvis, Me, and the Lemonade Stand Summer (2021), won the City of Victoria Children’s Book Prize, the Jean Little First-Novel Award, and has been short-listed for ten other awards. Leslie is also a singer/songwriter and performs with two of her adult children in The Leslie Gentile Band. Leslie lives on Vancouver Island on the traditional territory of the W- SÁNEĆ people with her husband and a German shepherd who is convinced that he’s a lapdog. Though not connected with a specific nation, Leslie is of Indigenous and settler heritage, and has Salish, Tuscarora, and Scottish ancestry.

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