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The Red Lemon by Bob Staake Golden Books - Random House 2006 ISBN 10: 030797846X ISBN 13: 978-0307978462   Return To All Books     Behind The Pages With Bob: "I wrote and illustrated The Red Lemon in the fall of 2004 even though I had no contract or commitment from a publisher to publish it. The entire book took me a little over two weeks to complete. My plan was to submit it to Viking as a contractual first right of refusal following the publication of Hello Robots, but before I did so I wanted to show it to my editor at Randon House whose opinion I have always valued. She loved the book but was disappointed that I would be taking it to Viking. As fate would have it, To my surprise Viking passed on it, preferring instead a back-up story I submitted at the same time called 'Abe Ruth: Babe Ruth's Not-So Great, Great Grandson." I never refined the Abe story or created illustrations for it, but I took The Red Lemon back to my Random editor and by the end of the day she presented me with an offer to publish it. To this day the book reamins one of my most popular with children, librarians and parents." -- Bob Staake   Farmer McPhee's shirt is made of actual fabric. I photographed a panel of brown gingham and incorporated it into my illustrations of him. The clock in Red Lemon Island's town square is not manufactured by Timex. Instead it is made by Limex. Businesses on Red Leon Island include Peel's Market, The Bitter End Discoteque, Rind Partnet Lofts, Zest Cafe and Hotel Lemony. Summary: In this thought-provoking tale reminiscent of Seuss, Farmer McPhee finds a red lemon in his orchard and cries, "It's red as a stop sign! It's red as a rose! I can't have red lemons where yellow fruit grows! Imagine a world where lemonade's red? Where once-yellow cupcakes are crimson instead?" As he tosses the red lemon across the water, he can't imagine that it will land on a small island, sprout a seed, and someday bring forth an orchard of lemon trees...where people will travel to from all over, to try the red lemons that are "six times as sweet!"   Sample image from book (above)   The New York Times Book Review: It's good to be different. That's true in science and art, and it's the message at the heart of Bob Staake's latest book, "The Red Lemon." His other works include the goofy "Hello, Robots" and the comically dark, decidedly not-for-kids picture book "Struwwelpeter and Other Disturbing Yet Cautionary Tales by Heinrich Hoffmann." "The Red Lemon" lacks the grotesqueness of "Struwwelpeter" (no burning flesh in this one), but the illustrations share a bright, funny and relentlessly geometrical style. "The Red Lemon" tells the tale of jolly Farmer McPhee, a perfectionist who one day finds a red lemon, a freak of nature, in his pristine orchard. He hurls the offending fruit onto a nearby deserted island. Little does McPhee know that he has just planted the seed that, long after his own orchard has gone to weed, will be the foundation for the thriving tourist destination Red Lemon Island. We see the island 200 years in the future, complete with its own Air Red airline and Bitter End discothèque. Young children will enjoy the bouncy, rhyming prose, as when a horrified McPhee exclaims, "When people bite into a fruit that they chew, they count on it being the right-colored hue!" But Staake's quirky and engaging art is the book's true protagonist. Staake portrays two worlds: McPhee's simple, orderly farm and the funky, futuristic Red Lemon Island. McPhee's realm is built almost entirely from symmetrical shapes - circles for his roly-poly body and for each tree in his vast orchard, and rectangles for his boxes of perfect fruit. Most images of the lemon trees are symmetrically divided with a different shade of green on each side. Busy darker green swirls inside the trees provide dimension. By contrast, the island is a hip, angular metropolis; though its inhabitants still have impossibly circular heads, their bodies are stylishly lithe and always on the go. Where McPhee lived a simple life among circles and right angles, the island is exploding with colorful buildings squished and stretched into unlikely distortions. For readers who doubt the artistic advantages of the digital medium, it's time to reconsider. Staake's entertaining Web site, BobStaake.com, reveals some of his trade secrets. Working digitally, he can adjust background shading or produce a grove of identical lemon trees with a few clicks of the mouse. (The same lemon tree even made a sneaky appearance in "Hello, Robots.") The effect is an über-orchard of flawless fruit as far as the eye can see. "The Red Lemon" is a buoyant read reminiscent of Dr. Seuss, but with a modern panache. The sad part, of course, is McPhee's short-sightedness in tossing the odd lemon away. But perhaps the uncomplicated McPhee would not have liked a red-lemon world so much anyway. Publishers Weekly: A perfectly rotund farmer sings the praises of his latest lemon crop: "There's nothing like lemons./ This fruit isn't mellow./ They're tangy!/ They're tasty!/ They're tart / and soooooo/ yellow!" In these pages, Saake's (Hello, Robots) retro-style graphics exude giddy happiness: Farmer McPhee bounces about his orchard in a state of exhilaration. In his comically manic reveries, he imagines all the delicious things his lemons will be used to make. ("Lemons for sherbet and lemons for pie!/ Lemons for drinks on the Fourth of July!") Children should get a kick out of seeing how Saake manipulates simple shapes into cool, cartoon-like images. But the story takes a darker turn when McPhee spies something shocking in one of his trees: a single red lemon. "I can't have red lemons/ where yellow fruit grows!" fumes McPhee, as Staake covers the scene with a wash of smoldering red. He hurls the red fruit into the ocean, where it lands on a deserted island, germinates and, after a few centuries (the passage of time is symbolized by a vaguely disturbing, post-apocalyptic-looking view of the orchard), the produce from the red lemon orchard becomes a sought-after gastronomic treat. One man's lemon is another's lemonade? The moral may pass over youngsters' heads, but the pictures will keep them enthralled. Ages 4-8.   School Library Journal: Farmer McPhee delights in his grove of lemon trees. Each perfect lemon is tasty, tart, and, most importantly, yellow. His pride fairly bursts off the page, as does his outrage when he discovers a red lemon on one of his trees. He cannot imagine a world in which lemonade is red and cupcakes are crimson. In a fit of anger, he hurls the offending fruit across the sea to a distant island. Two hundred years pass and McPhee's prized lemon tree groves are replaced by weeds. But on the island, a vibrant city has grown up around a grove of red lemon trees. As it turns out, these lemons are six times sweeter than yellow ones, and now people travel across oceans and seas to get them. Bold, enticing illustrations dominate the pages. Staake creates a fun, dynamic world reminiscent of Dr. Seuss's in its sweeping arcs, bright colors, multicolored cartoon people, and effortlessly rhyming text. The circles used to create Farmer McPhee and his trees give the book a polished, graphic-arts feel.   Kirkus Reviews: Wildly colorful pages filled with geometrically shaped figures tell the tale of Farmer McPhee and his lemon orchards. The rhyming story begins conventionally, with an ode to tart, yellow lemons and their many delicious uses. One day Farmer McPhee, as round as his trees, is shocked to spy a red lemon. Imagining terrible havoc created by a differently colored lemon, McPhee quickly throws it over to an island. Two hundred years pass. The farmer's land is gray, sere and empty. Meanwhile, the island has become a wonderland of red lemons. A quirky city has evolved with an economy based on these fabulously sweet red lemons, attracting people from all over the world. Staake uses a wide color palette with exaggerated shapes and people; his geometric forms are vividly cartoonish and exuberant, yet deceptively simple. Imaginative use of perspective and the multihued, varying sized text add flair. The energetic city is filled with visual and verbal humor, and the important message is subtly conveyed. Pair with some lemonade and perhaps a muffin, and enjoy the depth of meaning behind this computer-enhanced visual feast. (Picture book. 4-9)

Follow Bob: The Red Lemon Hardcover $50.00 USD Includes free shipping to continental U.S. ONLY. For international orders, please inquire.   Required: Please indicate in text field below to whom book should be signed - or simply state "sign only": To purchase an unsigned retail copy of this book at a lesser price, please click any of the BUY links to the left.