Under the Lemon Moon

The theft of all the lemons from her lemon tree leads Rosalinda to an encounter with la Anciana, the Old One, who walks the Mexican countryside helping things grow, and to an understanding of generosity and forgiveness.

Fine (Fantastic Flight) works a bit of wonder in an understated story with the powerful themes of regeneration and redemption. One night, a horrified Rosalinda spies a man picking all of the fruit from her carefully tended lemon tree. Soon afterward, the leaves begin to turn yellow, and Rosalinda seeks out help. When her grandmother tells her about La Anciana, the Old One, who "walks the countryside helping things grow," the child determines to find her. At the end of a day's search for La Anciana, Rosalinda sees the lemon thief selling her tree's bounty at market, while his wife rocks an infant nearby. At this point La Anciana magically appears: "Perhaps he had a need," she tells Rosalinda, and hands her a branch with directions to bind it onto the lemon tree. A miraculous transformation follows, and a grateful Rosalinda shares her plentiful new crop with her family and neighborsAand even the contrite thief, whom she instructs to plant the seeds. Fine's message is stronger for remaining implicit. Softly punctuated with the hues of the flower-filled Mexican countryside, Moreno's (Fiesta) watercolor and pastel images quietly convey the picturesque setting. Her attention to folkloric details helps bridge the story as it travels between realism and fairy tale. Ages 4-up.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Rosalinda awakens one night to discover a person she calls the Night Man stealing the lemons from her favorite tree, which consequently sickens. To no avail, Rosalinda seeks advice from family and neighbors on how to save the tree. After she sustains the shock of seeing the Night Man selling her lemons in the market, Rosalinda is approached by La Anciana, the mythical wise woman who reputedly roams the earth healing things and helping them to grow. Rosalinda reverently follows La Anciana's suggestions and the tree produces large lemons overnight. Overjoyed at the recovery of her tree, Rosalinda shares her bounty and, in a shining example of grace, gives her last lemon to the Night Man and his ragged family with instructions on how to plant his own lemon trees. While this is a moving tribute to the need for compassion and forgiveness, some may want to explain further the story's ambiguous response to theftthat the man's desperate situation compelled him to stealwhen sharing the book with children. Still, Fine offers a litigious world an inspiring example of the power of forgiveness, while Moreno's luminous watercolors gently depict rural life in Mexico. (glossary) (Picture book. 4-8) -- Copyright ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Young Rosalinda loves her lemon tree and is distraught when she discovers that a man has stripped it of its lemons and left it damaged. She seeks advice from people in her village, but it's not until she meets up with La Anciana, the Old One, that she learns how to heal the tree and heal her heart. The story deals honestly with the pain of being robbed of a treasure, and also, by showing the thief with his impoverished family, conveys the need for compassion. Moreno's watercolor-and-pastel illustrations give the Mexican countryside a warm, softly textured appearance. The double-page spread showing the tree bursting with lemons, the yellow moon overhead, and the overjoyed little girl dancing underneath is particularly appealing. Susan Dove Lempke