Consumer Financial

Protection Bureau

MONEY AS YOU GROW BOOK CLUB

Parent reading guide for 

“Lemonade in Winter” 

by Emily Jenkins

 Ages 3–7
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Welcome

This guide will help you teach your child money management 

skills while reading “Lemonade in Winter: A Book About Two 

Kids Counting Money” by Emily Jenkins. It will do this by:

 Helping you explain the key ideas covered in the book, and 

then providing you with signs your child understands the key 

ideas and can use them in daily life. 

 Giving you things to think about before reading the book 

with your child. These can help you spot key points in the 

book or spark ideas to discuss later.

Helping you prepare for an enjoyable reading time with 

your child.

 Providing questions to talk about with your child.

 Suggesting activities that help your child put ideas and 

lessons into action.

Parent reading guide | Ages 3–7
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The story

On a cold winter day, Pauline and John-John set 

up a lemonade stand on the street outside their 

home. They try many ways to sell their drinks and 

Pauline teaches John-John how to count quarters 

along the way.
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 Key ideas

By the time you finish this discussion guide, your child will be 

able to point to examples of these key ideas in the book you 

read and discuss real-life examples, too. Use these definitions to 

explain the ideas. We’ve also included ways children can show 

they are ready to use them in their daily lives.

1. Solving problems

When problems come up, we try to deal with them. Solving 

problems means finding what works best for us and taking 

action to make things better.

How kids show it: They can describe problems and come up 

with a few ideas to make things better.

2. Spending 

You need money to buy things. These things have different 

prices. Money can be spent only once—after buying something, 

a person needs more money to buy something else.

How kids show it: They make spending choices with their own 

money (real or play money). (Ages 7+) They can tell the value of 

different coins and bills.
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3. Flexibility

It’s important to learn from mistakes. We can change our plans 

and try something new if our first idea isn’t working.

How kids show it: They can talk about a time when their plans 

didn’t turn out how they wanted and what they did instead.
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 Something to think about

First, read the book yourself and think about these ideas:

§ Pauline and John-John decide to have a lemonade stand 

outside their home on a cold winter day. Their Mom and 

Dad tell them that it is cold and nobody will want to buy 

lemonade, but they let Pauline and John-John go ahead with 

their plans. We can still learn lessons when we try and fail at 

something. 

§ When the streets are empty in the book, Pauline and JohnJohn try different ways to sell their lemonade. When one 

plan stops working, they change their plan and try another 

idea. When we have problems, we can look for a solution. 

Sometimes it can take several tries before we find a solution 

that works the best for us. 

§ After they make a sale, Pauline counts out the quarters for 

John-John before putting it in a green plastic box. She 

teaches her little brother about quarters.

§ After making their last sale, Pauline is sad because they spent 

more money than they earned. Even though Pauline and 

John-John didn’t make any money, they were still able to 

purchase something with the money they had. It is important 

for children to understand the value of money and how items 

cost different amounts. 
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Before you read

Read the book first yourself. Knowing the story will help you know 

what comes next. It is important to ask your child questions about 

the story as you read. Ask what might happen next in the story.

§ Choose a quiet time for stories and make it part of your 

daily routine. 

§ Find a cozy, quiet place to read. 

§ Make sure your child can see the pictures. 

§ Talk about the pictures and characters in the book.

§ Read with expression in your voice. Give each character 

in the story his or her own voice. 

§ Keep the story time short enough to leave them wanting more.

§ Look for ways during the day to bring up the messages in 

the story.

§ Continue to read aloud together even if your child can 

read alone.
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 Something to talk about

Before you begin to read the story with your child, look at the 

cover of the book together. Ask what the story might be about.

As you read the story with your child, talk about these ideas:

§ Why did Pauline’s Mom and Dad think the lemonade stand 

would not be a good idea? What is the weather like in the 

winter in this story? 

§ Where do Pauline and John-John look for quarters? Have you 

ever found money somewhere? What did you do with it?

§ Pauline and John-John go to a grocery store to buy what 

they need for their stand. Have you ever bought anything at a 

grocery store?

§ Pauline and her little brother can’t sell their drinks because 

the streets are empty. What could they do to get people to 

come to their stand? What would you do if it were your stand?

§ Both of the children in the story are flexible. That means they 

change their plans if what they are doing does not work well. 

Have you ever had to change your plans to solve a problem?

§ Pauline and John-John had just enough money to buy two 

popsicles. Have you ever had just enough money to buy 

something you wanted? Did you ever have to save more 

money to buy what you wanted?
8 MONEY AS YOU GROW BOOK CLUB | Lemonade in Winter

 Something to do

Buried treasure Ages 3+

This activity helps your child identify different coins and 

problem solve at a matching game. Put sand, or uncooked rice 

or dried beans, into a bowl, tray, or large container. Gather two 

of each type of coin (two pennies, two nickels, two dimes, two 

quarters). Set aside one of each the coins and bury the other 

set of coins in the rice or beans. Then hold up one of the coins 

and have your child dig into the tray or container to find the 

matching coin. How many tries until your child finds the right 

coin? You can add in other small items or toys for more fun too.

Shopping and spending Ages 5+

Together with your child, make a list of items needed to cook a 

meal, work on a project, or other items that are needed for your 

family. Talk about how much money is needed to buy each item 

and where the money comes from to pay for groceries and other 

items. As you shop, you or your child can cross the items off your 

list. When you check out at the store, let your child hand money 

over to the clerk, get any change and a receipt, and hand those 

back to you. 

(Ages 7+) If you use a debit, credit, or other plastic card to 

purchase your items, older children can start to learn that plastic 
9 MONEY AS YOU GROW BOOK CLUB | Lemonade in Winter

cards are sometimes used instead of cash. Talk with your child 

about how money gets onto the card and how you keep track of 

how much money is left on the card.

Rainy weather Ages 5+

The children in this story turned a snowy day into a fun day 

and tried out all sorts of ways to sell their lemonade. You can 

use changes in the weather to talk about being flexible. Talk 

about what activities you and your child have planned for the 

day. How would this change if the weather was different – a lot 

hotter or colder, rainy or snowy? If the weather changed, how 

could you change your plans? For example, if it rains, could 

you change your clothes or have a picnic in your living room? 

Let your child know it’s okay to be sad when plans change. 

Sometimes it might even turn out to be more fun!
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About this guide

The Money as You Grow Book Club is a research-based program 

designed to help parents, caregivers, and others teach children 

ages 4 through 10 money skills through reading, activities, and play. 

The Money as You Grow Book Club is an updated version of 

the University of Nevada Extension’s Money on the Bookshelf 

program. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), The 

University of Wisconsin-Madison Center for Financial Security, 

and the University of Wisconsin-Extension Family Living Programs 

have worked together to expand the program and make it 

available to libraries, educators, and parents nationally. 

The CFPB is an independent federal agency. We write and 

enforce rules that keep banks and other financial companies 

operating fairly. We also help educate and empower 

consumers. For more about tools and resources for parents, visit 

consumerfinance.gov/MoneyAsYouGrow. 

The Center for Financial Security is a research center that seeks 

to help the public build financial knowledge and skills, increase 

access to financial services and increase the financial security 

of families. The University of Wisconsin-Extension is part of the 

National Institute of Food and Agriculture’s (NIFA) Cooperative 

Extension System, which brings vital, practical information to 

agricultural producers, small business owners, consumers, 

families, and young people.
To learn more about the Money as You Grow Book 

Club, or download other parent reading guides, visit 

consumerfinance.gov/MoneyAsYouGrow.

MONEY AS YOU GROW BOOK CLUB

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