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True Believer: A Novel in the Make Lemonade Trilogy
Unavailable
True Believer: A Novel in the Make Lemonade Trilogy
Unavailable
True Believer: A Novel in the Make Lemonade Trilogy
Audiobook4 hours

True Believer: A Novel in the Make Lemonade Trilogy

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

4/5

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Currently unavailable

About this audiobook

What’s new in LaVaughn’s life is Jody–a boy she knew as a child who’s come back to the housing project where she lives. Jody is like a miracle: He smells like chlorine, he calls her "little buddy," he goes with her to the dance. It’s just as if he’s in love with her. Except not quite.

As LaVaughn puzzles over Jody, as her best friends struggle with belief and acceptance, and as Jody wrestles with questions about his own identity, Virginia Euwer Wolff rises to the occasion with this astonishing and powerfully moving novel, the second in the Make Lemonade trilogy.

LanguageEnglish
Release dateJan 22, 2002
ISBN9780807206935
Unavailable
True Believer: A Novel in the Make Lemonade Trilogy
Author

Virginia Euwer Wolff

Virginia Euwer Wolff is an accomplished violinist and former elementary school and high school English teacher. Her first book for young readers, Probably Still Nick Swansen, was published in 1988 and won both the International Reading Association Award and the PEN-West Book Award. Since then she has written several more critically acclaimed young adult novels, earning more honors, including the National Book Award for True Believer, as well as the Golden Kite Award for Fiction and the Jane Addams Book Award for Children’s Books that Build Peace. Her books include Make Lemonade, The Mozart Season, This Full House and Bat 6. She lives in Oregon.

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Reviews for True Believer

Rating: 3.927418387096774 out of 5 stars
4/5

124 ratings8 reviews

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  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    4Q, 4PFifteen year old La Vaughn knows all the traps that ensnare girls like her; raised in poverty, by a single mother, with a friend who became a teenage mother of two babies, and two friends from childhood that have found Jesus. But there's a cute boy down the hall, and nothing can stop her feelings from overwhelming her. She knows it won't help her getting into college, but she can't help herself. Or can she? I loved this book because it felt the most true to adolescence- and my adolescence was completely different but I had to learn some of these same universal lessons. A smart girl, totally lost in her own path, can only help herself find her way.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Re-read. Strong and believable characters make this novel in verse stand out. There's a strong undercurrent of love which redeems the grimmer moments. I liked the subplot about LaVaughn's friends being drawn into a Christian chastity movement, and I found the rest of it right on.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Well deserving of awards received, includingNational Book Award Winner,ALA Michael L. Printz Award Honor Book,ABA Pick of the Liststhis is an amazing book! LaVaughn is 15. She is strong, intelligent, sensitive and she longs for a college education that will take her from a crime-ridden housing project and thus provide a better life.I liked LaVaughn for her strong personality and her compassion toward others. Through LaVaughn, the author addresses very powerful subjects, including strict, judgmental religion that harms rather than heals, first love, homosexuality, abandonment of friends and the incredible positive influence that a mother and teachers can make!The author has a gift for addressing all these issues without overwhelming the reader.LaVaughn is confused when her childhood girlfriends embrace a strict, fundamentalistic religion. They abandon her because she is "not saved." Then, when LaVaughn's childhood friend Jody returns to the neighborhood, she is immediately drawn to him. Sadly, LaLaughn's love cannot be returned in the way in which she dreams. Trying to make sense of all the emotions and feelings is difficult.In the end, LaVaughn realizes that a religion that judges those whom are deemed unworthy, does not equate to a "true believer!"Highly recommended.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    In True Believer, the second in the trilogy of Make Lemonade, LaVaughn is 15 and still has her dreams of going to college. She feels like her two friends and her are growing apart because they have felt the need to dedicate their life to Jesus. LaVaughn does not feel like that is her. One day a boy from her past returns, it is Jody. Suddenly he is beautiful. She realizes that she really likes him and thinks that he likes her. But does he? LaVaughn finds something out about Jody that may or may not change her mind. Mean while her mother has been spending time with another man and they have been talking about moving into a house.LaVaughn still feels close with her father, even though he has passed away. She knows that her mom deserves to be happy, but can not shake this feeling. Meanwhile she is still doing well in school and has moved up in a class and made new friends. Is LaVaughn's friend's growing apart from her or is she growing apart from them.I think this is a good book to use in the middle school classroom. The teacher could talk about the way the author uses free verse throughout the book. The author can use free verse to lead into an important moment in the book. Another issue a teacher can pull from this book is the drive that LaVaughn has to want to go to college. Students should want to go to college and should want to work really hard to go to college. Teachers do not necessarily have to talk about college they could talk about wanting something in sports or wanting good grades. Teachers can put emphasis on the fact that if students want something as badly as LaVaughn wanted to go to college, they will really need to work hard and work every day to get this. I really enjoyed this book. It was not as good as the first one was to me. However I am now eager to read the last one! I think it is very interesting that she writes in free verse, and I think it is very interesting that she never tells us who what race her characters are. I like that because she leaves that up to the readers.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I read the first book in this trilogy as a library school student in a young adult literature class. At first I couldn't place where I recognized the characters from but as I continued to read I remembered LeVann and eventually Jolly and her two children.

    I really enjoyed this book. I felt so proud listening to Levonn better herself. She was so impressive dealing with all the things around her. Sometimes I felt like her mother was overly tough on her, but then other times I could see how easy it would be to slip and totally understood why she as so tough on Levonn.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    The year before turning sweet sixteen written from her point of view - an interesting look at a young Afro-American woman's mind in a pivotal year. I had not known of the other book in this trilogy, but I had read a good review and the book lived up to it.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Adaptation.Jellyfish.Limits.Birthdays.Verna LaVaughn is a teenager trying to navigate through her emotions while she adapts to her so called life. LaVaughn has such an “organic” personality that really went well with the poetic feel of the book. LaVaughn was not consumed with all the typical teenage “vices.” Her father was killed when she was younger and she and her mother had a great understanding relationship. She was going through a phase common to most teenage girls. LaVaughn has a crush, Jody.LaVaughn always kept college in view despite her low performing school and inner city environment she lived in. Her focus allowed her to be placed in advanced science classes and a grammar building project. Life was changing for LaVaughn. Myrtle and Annie, LaVaughn’s long time friends, were changing since they had joined, “Cross Your Legs for Jesus.” They were constantly pressuring LaVaughn to join. She was concerned about the toddlers she used to babysit, Jilly and Jeremy because their mother, Jolly was a troubled teen mom. There was her lab partner, Patrick, and his hard life in foster care. Despite all these things, LaVaughn’s daily thoughts were centered around Jody. He had previously moved away for a better shot at life but now he was back and ever present in LaVaughn’s life. What was meant to be a surprise gesture for Jody turns into a bigger surprise for LaVaughn. I thoroughly enjoyed True Believer. It was one of those great books that I just stumbled upon. Wolff didn’t dwell on LaVaughn’s situation (poor school, inner city life, single mom) nor did she allow LaVaughn’s character to wallow in it. Initially, I could not determine LaVaughn’s race. One just “assumed” it but the author never really pinned it down. That disguised part of the narrative really stayed with me. It was refreshing how Wolff incorporated fun science and grammar facts within the narrative. LaVaughn was a teenager trying to find her footing in life. I found it quite endearing that she sought to find her own path toward faith and developing her beliefs instead of succumbing to the peer pressure of her friends. Even though LaVaughn had a crush on Jody, she never came off as boy crazed. This was a well balanced Young Adult read.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Wow! What a book! I admit that because of limited selection I simply picked this book from the library shelf without even looking through it. A couple of weeks before reading it, I thumbed through the book and saw the free verse style it is written in and thought, oh boy, I don’t know if I’ll like this book. But I began to read it aloud to my husband because he was curious about the style. And then I couldn’t put the book down! I really enjoyed the author’s writing and the emphasis and subtlety surrounding different ideas. LaVaughn was a very believable character and the questions she has are ones I had and even still have today! I loved the fact that neither race nor ethnicity was mentioned. It makes the story more universal. Even though the backdrop of the inner city plays a part, I think most teenage girls could find something to relate to in this character’s attempt to sort her place in the world out. I also enjoyed the strong and inspiring spirits found in LaVaughn’s mother and teacher. What great role models! I think this book would allow for much discussion and discovery among adolescents who could really dig in and discuss the issues. I only wish books that so beautifully show children that they are not alone in their worries and dreams and desires were available for the youth here in Egypt. And now I must attempt to find the prequel and the sequel to this fantastic read!