The third installment of the popular Lemonade War series finds siblings Evan and Jessie Treski at their grandmother's Vermont house for the holidays, solving another mystery. This one involves figuring out who stole a cherished bell the whole neighborhood gathers around to ring in the new year. Evan and Jessie also come to grips with unsettling changes in their grandmother's behavior. Once again, Ms. Davies reveals how good she is at understanding the complex emotions of children age nine to twelve years old. 

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### From Booklist

The Treski family’s traditional trip to Grandma’s house for Christmas and New Year’s takes a wrenching turn in the third volume of the Lemonade War series. A kitchen fire has destroyed part of Grandma’s home, she has just returned from the hospital, and sometimes she doesn’t recognize her own grandchildren. The disappearance of the New Year’s Bell, always rung at midnight with the whole community gathered on Grandma’s wooded hill, seems minor in comparison, but its symbolic importance to the family is evident. In the days that follow, 10-year-old Evan lends a hand repairing the house and, pushing past his pain, finds other practical ways to help his grandmother. Meanwhile, nine-year-old Jessie tries to solve the bell mystery, befriends an unusual boy, and tangles with bullies. Taking readers and characters outside their comfort zones of neighborhood, school, and normalcy, Davies portrays Evan and Jessie with subtlety and conviction as their relationship shifts and the difference in their ages becomes apparent in a new way. A fresh addition to a well-written series. Grades 3-6. --Carolyn Phelan

### Review

"Davies' real talent is human relationships." —Betsy Bird, New York Public Library and Fuse#8 blog

"Davies keeps a tight focus on the children: Points of view switch between Evan, with his empathetic and emotional approach to understanding his world, and Jessie, for whom routine is essential and change a puzzle to be worked out. . . . Each of the siblings brings a personal resilience and heroism to the resolution."  —*Kirkus*