Make Lemonade

Author: Virginia Euwer Wolff

Publication: New York: Scholastic Inc.

Publication Date: 1994

ISBN: 0-590-48141-X

Pages: 200 (small print)

Series: Point Signature

Summary: When 14-year-old LaVaughn answers a job ad that says "Babysitter Needed Bad," she meets 17-year-old Jolly - a single mother with two kids - who has obviously had some tough times in her life. The apartment is filthy and the kids are a handful, but LaVaughn sticks with the job because she needs the money in order to go to college and escape the same fate. When Jolly loses her job, however, LaVaughn must decide how she can best help her and make something good out of a bad situation.

Major Characters: LaVaughn, Jolly

Comments: The author does an excellent job of making the reader believe that he or she is listening to a 14-year-old girl talking, because the story is written in a poetic, stream of consciousness manner. LaVaughn will be talking about one thing one minute, and something entirely different the next, then come back to what she was talking about before. She uses bad grammar, and slang phrases . This book has been at the centre of a lot of controversy, but it is hard to imagine why that is the case. There is no swearing and no pornography. Jolly is sexually assaulted at one point, but even that is not explicitly described. The story can be a little depressing, and even shocking, for someone who has not gone through as much hardship as Jolly, but it is full of hope at the end, when you see how much both characters have grown.

Genre: Realistic fiction/Controversial book

Age Level: 14+