Student Essay on Make Lemonade by Virginia Euwer Wolff

Make Lemonade by Virginia Euwer Wolff

Essay

When fourteen-year-old LaVaughn takes an after-school babysitting job to earn money for college she doesn't really know what she is getting into. All she knows is she feels a strong connection to this seventeen-year-old single mother and her two young children. LaVaughn can't hide how badly off Jolly, LaVaughn's employer, and her kids are from her mom or herself anymore, when Jolly comes home with her face scratched up and bleeding. LaVaughn's mother is worried that this job is not appropriate or safe for her daughter. But by now LaVaughn has already gotten Jeremy potty trained, given Jilly many baths, and formed a special friendship with Jolly. It seems as though everything goes wrong for Jolly because shortly after this she is fired from her job. Now LaVaughn must choose between her college dream or her friendship with Jolly's family. Which does she value more? Can she have both? This is a book of a girls struggle to learn what truly means most to her.