Q2 Benchmark: (Make Lemonade by Virginia Euwer Wolff)

Isabella Blackwell

The Best Independent Reading Project Ever!!

Book Review of Make Lemonade by Virginia Euwer Wolff 

What do you do when life gives you lemons? Make lemonade. Award Winning author, Virginia Euwer Wolff, makes this exact point in her intriguing novel “Make Lemonade”. This book is a must read for young girls (and boys) learning to make the right choices for a good life in the future. 

This empowering story was honored as “Top of the List” on Booklist.com. It was also named as a School Library Journal’s Best Book. In addition, the American Library Association tags it as “A best book for young adults.” and Publishers Weekly reviews the book as “Radiant with hope.” while Kirkus Reviews calls it “Powerfully moving.”

The novel explores the life of 14 year old LaVaughn. As a hardworking student, LaVaughn is excited about experiencing college life and anxious about how she is going to get there. Her mother tells her that her ticket to college is money, and that she needs to make it herself. She gets started right away, and takes a job as a babysitter for seventeen year-old Jolly. Not knowing what she was getting herself into, LaVaughn goes to see Jolly and her two kids Jeremy and Jilly. As soon as she walks into the house she is amazed and disgusted at the same time. Cockroaches, messy floors and tables, and kids with food all over themselves were only a few of the things she sees that are a complete opposite of the life she is used to.

As the story evolves, LaVaughn creates a very strong bond with the children and surprisingly develops a unique friendship with Jolly too. She learns that Jolly is even less stable than most seventeen year olds because of the route her life has taken. LaVaughn is shocked and truly affected by Jolly’s struggle to provide for her kids and herself. She struggles herself as the relationship she has formed with them begins to affect her personal and academic life. Does she stay and continue to help them or does cut ties in order to make herself and her studies her priorities?

LaVaughn is strong in character and is confident in the decisions she makes. She is the star in this journey and can inspire young people to be empathetic, caring, and smart decision makers. She is bright and smart enough to learn the lessons around her.

I relate to LaVaughn in that I have learned difficult life lessons by seeing the choices made by others around me. In my personal life, there is a person who has chosen to inflict pain and physical injury to themselves in order to deal with difficult situations or problems in their life. Unfortunately their choices continue to lead them to a future with few opportunities and unhappiness. LaVaughn reminds me to think independently and to use my experiences and the experiences of others to make positive life choices.

This book was a pleasure to read. It is for sure a new favorite and I found it enjoyable and hard to put down. The messages and life lessons that I came away with will be memorable to say the least. Young people will appreciate the flow of this book written in poetic form. It is relatable and inspiring.