I absolutely loved the Disney Channel Original Movie (DCOM for short) "Lemonade Mouth," so, naturally, I gave the book a read as well. However, I found Mark Peter Hughes' "young adult" novel to be a rare case where a movie is better than the book it's based on. For one, the makers of the DCOM cleaned the story up a bit; the original novel has right much profanity and sexual references, especially in the first chapter or two. Beyond that, the writing is just awkward. Instead of having the story told by a member of the band or even a third-person omniscient narrator, countless people tell Lemonade Mouth's origins. Most of the chapters are compilations of the five band members' letters/journal entries, but the scene about Lemonade Mouth's first concert was very choppy, because it kept switching to random people who witnessed it. Since this novel is (unfortunately) plagued by both content and narration problems, I can only recommend it to older die-hard fans of the DCOM. One other thing: This book makes a few referenced to "Scooby-Doo," and Hayley Kiyoko, who played Stella in the film, had previously portrayed a certain bespectacled brainiac with a penchant for orange socks. Things that make you go, "Hmm..."
