Awards
Winner of the 2001 National Book Award, Young People's Literature
Synopses & Reviews
LaVaughn is fifteen now, and she's still fiercely determined to go to college. But that's the only thing she's sure about. Loyalty to her father bubbles up as her mother grows closer to a new man. The two girls she used to do everything with have chosen a path LaVaughn wants no part of. And then there's Jody. LaVaughn can't believe how gorgeous he is...or how confusing. He acts like he's in love with her, but is he?
Review
"Wolff has surpassed herself with this sequel [to Make Lemonade]....In delving into LaVaughn's life, Wolff unmasks the secret thoughts adolescents hold sacred and, in so doing, lets her readers know they are not alone." Publishers Weekly
Review
"[P]owerful....Transcendent, raw, and fiercely optimistic....A natural for reader's theater, this will capture even reluctant readers." Gillian Engberg, Booklist
Review
"When Wolff writes a book, it's an event. When she revisits LaVaughn, as she does in True Believer, it is a prodigious gift....Wolff unerringly reveals the inner depths of her heroine....[A] coming-of-age story with both bite and heart, which poses more questions than it answers but never runs out of hope." Kirkus Reviews
Review
"[A] heartbreaking story, truthful in its pain but buoyed by LaVaughn's resilient spirit and by a redemptive and earned ending." Horn Book
Review
"[O]ffers readers insights into the institutions and social relationships that shape the lives of inner-city teens....Though there's a heap of teen problems here, Wolff is adroit at expressing both the comic and tragic feelings of her young protagonist....A solid addition for high school and young adult collections." School Library Journal
Review
"Wolff writes in blank verse, and as Verna tells her story, the reader moves in lockstep with her wherever she goes, laughing and crying, celebrating and worrying, wondering and deciding. It is an outstanding continuing portrait of Verna LaVaughn." VOYA
Review
"Readers, whether they share LaVaughn's material struggles or not, will get right into her life and see how much courage she and her mother have to hope for a better life, and to work diligently to realize that hope." KLIATT
Review
"True Believer explores issues relevant to today's teens in an honest and sensitive manner. Virginia Euwer Wolff gives readers a moving, beautifully written poignant story, well worth the eight year wait a story that makes us true believers in LaVaughn and in the tenacity and resiliency of her spirit." Alan Reviews
Synopsis
LaVaughn is fifteen now, and she's still fiercely determined to go to college. But that's the only thing she's sure about. Loyalty to her father bubbles up as her mother grows closer to a new man. The two girls she used to do everything with have chosen a path LaVaughn wants no part of. And then there's Jody. LaVaughn can't believe how gorgeous he is...or how confusing. He acts like he's in love with her, but is he?
Synopsis
In this second novel of Wolff's Make Lemonade trilogy, 15-year old Verna LaVaughn is visited by Jody, a boy she knew as a child who comes back to the housing project where she lives. Jody behaves as if he's in love with her, but Jody is wrestling with questions of his own identity.
About the Author
Virginia Euwer Wolff is also the author of Probably Still Nick Swansen, The Mozart Season, and Bat 6. She is now at work on the third and final book about LaVaughn. Ms. Wolff lives in Oregon City, Oregon.
Reading Group Guide
Overview:
As if the typical teenage struggles with friends, family and falling
in love aren't enough for a person to handle, fifteen-year-old LaVaughn
strives to rise above the poverty she is raised in, pushed along
by her mother who dreams of her daughter being a success. Grateful
for everything that she has, LaVaughn especially loves her room,
which she refers to as "my own private territory complete with
my special ceiling design." The beautiful tree and family of
birds that LaVaughn painted on her ceiling on a restless, rainy
day remind her of her dreams and express her talent in a slightly
rebellious and private, yet beautiful way.
Written in verse as though the thoughts pour out of LaVaughn's
heart and mind and onto the pages, this is a great book for reluctant
young adult readers. The second book in the Make Lemonade trilogy,
True Believer will keep readers' interest flowing and encourage
them to read the other books in the trilogy. An emotionally honest
book, readers should be prepared to think about difficult issues
like religion, love, and relationships. True Believer won
the National Book Award for Young People's Literature in 2001.
Things
to think about and discuss:
1. LaVaughn is grateful for everything she has. In chapter five
she says "I am lucky to have a room of my own, instead of sleeping
on a fold-out like Annie in her house." Yet even with a room
of her own, LaVaughn and her mother live in poverty. Shootings occur
regularly in their neighborhood and drug dealers invade her school.
Why do you think LaVaughn chooses to show gratitude instead of being
bitter?
2. Myrtle and Annie have been best friends with LaVaughn for as
long as she can remember. Now that they have joined "Cross
Your Legs for Jesus," LaVaughn feels left out, yet she refuses
to join their group. Why do you think LaVaughn does not want to
join their club?
3. LaVaughn goes to the Grammar Build-up class after her teacher
pushes her into signing up. As she gains confidence and new skills,
new opportunities are opened to her, and she soon begins to dream
of becoming a nurse. What does this mean for LaVaughn's future?
4. Jolly has two small children and no husband to help take care
of them. LaVaughn helps Jolly by babysitting, and as a result learns
that life is very difficult as a young single mother. How do you
think this situation influences LaVaughn's choices? Do you think
she might have made different choices if she had not met Jolly?
5. Who do you think the title refers to as a "true believer"?
Kids'
Muse Notes by Julina
Mills
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