Books and Brews: Frankie and Bug

The pairing: Frankie and Bug by Gayle Forman with Berry lemonade and Mint lemonade

The Book:

This middle school fiction novel is available in audiobook (that’s how I read it), physical and ebook copies which takes place in the 1980’s. In this book, a 12 year old girl named Bug struggles with the changes that come with growing up. Well, more like the changes that come when your older brother grows up and wants “some space”. It’s Summer and all Bug wants to do is go to the beach! The Summer is supposed to be about the beach!But, Daniel doesn’t want to watch shi little sister anymore, so now Bug is supposed to spend her time with her mom’s best friend who lives in the apartment above Bug and her family, Phillip. So when Philip announces that his nephew is going to come spend the Summer with him, Bug is convinced that Frankie, Phillip’s nephew, is coming to entertain her. Instead, Bug spends the Summer learning about the people, world and relationships around them.

Why this match?

One of the things that Bug and Frankie bonded over was the fascination with the serial killer loose in California. The two are so fascinated that they decide to try to catch the serial killer themselves. To do so, they decide to hold a stake out. Of course, they need a n excuse to spend so much time on the corner where their suspect lives, so, they set up a lemon stand as a cover. When Phillip hears that they want to have a lemonade stand, he teaches them how to make homemade, from scratch lemonade while enthusiastically declaring that homemade lemonade is the best lemonade.

Lemonade is such a staple of Summer for so many. Even though I don’t drink a lot of it, lemonade just screams “Summer!!!!!” to me. My kids also enjoy a good lemonade but they love a good strawberry lemonade (and will accept a raspberry lemonade, too)! So I thought what a better age appropriate treat to go with a book with a setting on the beach, kids and a little bit of live’s truths.

Berry Lemonade and Mint lemonade:

Serves: 6

Ingredients for base lemonade:

• 6 lemons

• 1 cup of sugar

• 6 cups of water (or more to taste)

Directions:

• Collect ALL of your ingredients

• Juice lemons (should be about 1 cup of lemon juice)

• Combine juice, water and sugar in a ½ gallon picture

• Chill and serve with extras of our choice. Suggestions include:

  • Ice

  • Lemon slices

  • berry slices

  • Mint leaves

For Flavoring:

Choose one or a combination of the following to heighten your lemonade. Measurements are per 6 serving batches of lemonade.

Simple berry lemonades:

• 1-2 cups strawberries (fresh or frozen)

  • hull strawberries

  • Blend strawberries with ¼ cup of water until smooth

  • strain puree through sieve to remove seeds and create a smooth texture

  • Combine with lemonade

• 1 cup of raspberries (frozen or fresh)

  • Make a simple syrup by simmering 1 cup sugar, raspberries and 1 cup water in a saucepan until the berries break

  • Strain syrup to remove seeds and solids

  • Mix in with lemonade

• 1-2 cups (to taste) blueberries (frozen or fresh)

  • Combine and boil in a sauce pan until berries burst (about 10 minutes): 1 cup sugar, 1 cup water and berries

  • Strain out solids

  • Let syrup cool

  • Mix into lemonade

• 4-6 cups watermelon

  • Puree the watermelon (should be about 3-4 cups of juice

  • Make a simple syrup with 1 cup sugar and 1 cup water, until you reach the desired consistency

  • Combine both the syrup and the watermelon juice with the lemonade

• 5-10 mint leaves

  • Muddle the leaves at the bottom of your glass

  • Pour lemonade over the muddled mint

NOTE: You do not need to add sugar into the lemonade if you are adding simple syrup to the drink.

I obtained these reciepds and ideas from a mixture of google search results mixed and mashed together to create the whole recipe.

The base recipe lemonade recipe can be found here: www.allrecipes.com/recipe/20487/old-fashioned-lemonade/