BIBLIOGRAPHY
Wolff,
V. E. (1993). Make Lemonade. New York, NY: Henry Holt and Company. ISBN 0805022287. 200 p.
SUMMARY
Fourteen
year old LaVaughn has a personal goal of going to college. It is a decision that her mother fully
supports too. If LaVaughn completes
college, she will be the first one in her family to earn a degree, and she
would be the only one in her apartment complex to have one. The problem is that LaVaughn will have to earn
money to pay her own way through college since her mother can barely make ends
meet. LaVaughn finds a job babysitting
for a seventeen year old single mother of two very young children who live in
worse conditions than LaVaughn does. As
the days go by, LaVaughn learns some hard truths as she becomes attached to
this young family and tries to maintain her good grades. Life’s lessons and realities hit LaVaughn
head-on in this touching story.
CRITICAL ANALYSIS
Making Lemonade
by Virginia Euwer Wolff is the story of a young girl who wants to escape the
troubled inner city life. Virginia Euwer
Wolff creates a rather compelling protagonist by the name of LaVaughn who
proves to be stronger and wiser than most fourteen year olds. Written in the first person, readers will
listen to LaVaughn describe her various predicaments and feel her struggle to
make the best decisions as she attempts to prepare herself for a higher
education. Her problems are realistic
and described in a manner that others unfamiliar with the inner city life will
better understand. Jolly, Jilly, and Jeremy, the other main characters in this
story, are developed enough for readers to understand. Using free-verse poetry
to tell this story, Virginia Wolff’s Making
Lemonade is quick and easy to read which may appeal to reluctant readers as
well as female teenagers.
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