Module 9/SLIS 5420/August 3-9

MAKE LEMONADE

by

Virginia Euwer Wolff

Bibliography

Wolff, Virginia Euwer. Make Lemonade. Henry Holt and Company, 1993. ISBN: 978-0-8050-2228-5

Summary

LaVaughn is fourteen, Jolly is seventeen. Their lives and circumstances intersect when LaVaughn answers an ad for a babysitter for Jilly and Jeremy, Jolly's two babies, while Jolly works at a factory. Jolly is fighting her way out of - and into a better life for her and her babies, having once lived homeless. LaVaughn, who has aspired to go to college since she was five, works to add to her college account started by her mother. LaVaughn's mother is a single mother, LaVaughn's father having been gunned down when she was little. He is never far from her memory and heart as she "sees" him in little "waves" passing in seconds. As Jolly struggles with the responsibilities and hardships of being a single parent at seventeen, LaVaughn provides a much needed support system for her and those babies, nurturing them, giving them time and loving them, compromising the relationship of "employer-employee" she has with LaVaughn. As a deepening friendship evolves, issues are faced that could not be overcome without persistence and determination on the part of both girls.

A Page from My Book

I. LOVE. this. book.

I could get carried away just summarizing it, but it is a favorite, a VERY favorite, of the books I have read for my UNT course. Wolff is an extraordinary and talented author. Her words paint pictures that create sensory responses of, and to life lived as a seventeen-year-old unwed mother, living in the projects, in poverty, struggling to exist - and a college-bound hopeful who wavers between her own ambition and doing what is necessary to "save" the life of another. This is a novel told in verse, with text lines that break naturally as it progresses. I could not put the book down. It is just a wonderful story of putting other's needs ahead of one's own, gambling the outcome of remaining steadfast in their lives regarding what you know in your heart and mind is best for them. I will be adding all other YA books by Wolff to the library as soon as possible. I am so glad to have discovered this author. True Believer is the sequel - canNOT wait to read it! Be sure and read the following reviews!

Reviews/Awards

* ``This word COLLEGE is in my house,/ and you have to walk around it in the rooms/ like furniture.'' So LaVaughn, an urban 14-year-old, tries to earn the money she needs to make college a reality. She and her mother are a solid two-person family. When LaVaughn takes a job babysitting for Jolly, an abused, 17-year-old single parent who lives with her two children in squalor, her mother is not sure it's a good idea. How the girl's steady support helps Jolly to bootstrap herself into better times and how Jolly, in turn, helps her young friend to clarify her own values are the subjects of this complex, powerful narrative. The themes of parental love, sexual harassment, abuse, independence, and the value of education are its underpinnings. LaVaughn is a bright, compassionate teen who is a foil for Jolly, whose only brief role model was a foster parent, Gram, who died. The dynamics between the two young women are multidimensional and elastic--absolutely credible. LaVaughn's mother is a complete character, too, and even Jolly's kids become real. The tale is told in natural first-person, and in rhythmic prose arranged in open verse. The poetic form emphasizes the flow of the teenager's language and thought. The form invites readers to drop some preconceptions about novels, and they will find the plot and characters riveting. Make Lemonade is a triumphant, outstanding story. Carolyn Noah, School Library Journal, July 1993.

* Fourteen-year-old LaVaughn accepts the job of baby-sitting Jolly's two small children but quickly realizes that the young woman, a seventeen-year-old single mother, needs as much help and nurturing as her two neglected children. The four become something akin to a temporary family, and through their relationship each makes progress toward a better life. Sixty-six brief chapters, with words arranged on the page like poetry perfectly echo the patterns of teenage speech. Horn Book, September 1993

* "Rooted not in a particular culture, but in the community of poverty, the story offers a penetrating view of the conditions that foster our ignorance, destroy our self-esteem, and challenge our strength." Booklist, starred review

* Golden Kite Award for Fiction

* ALA Best Book for Children

* ALA Notable Book for Children

* ALA Recommended Book for Reluctant Readers

* Parents Choice Award Winner

* Parents Magazine Best Kids' Books of 1993

Suggested Activities

The story derives it's title from a lemon seed planted by LaVaughn for Jeremy to watch grow. The growth process is symbolic of the events transpiring in the story. Use this book in a book talk, concluding with a share time of examples of "when life gives you lemons ... Make Lemonade!"