Wolff, Virginia Euwer.  1993. MAKE LEMONADE. New York:  Henry Holt and Company, Inc.  ISBN:  0805022287.

Wolff writes this Young Adult novel from the point of view of LaVaughn.  She is a fourteen year old trying to earn some money for college.  She notices an advertisement for a babysitting job.  She makes the call and “her voice answered like we could be friends, right away.”  Page 4.  The first conversation for LaVaughn with Jolly was like two exceedingly young girls.  They both poked fun of each other’s names.   LaVaughn goes to the apartment, which turns out to be a grungy, smelly, cluttered habitat. She notices cockroaches crawling on the floor, sticky stuff on the children, and dishes piled high in the sink. Jolly is seventeen and her children are Jeremy who is 2 years old, and Jilly who is six to eight months old. 

LaVaughn realizes that Jolly needs to get back into school to become a better parent and to get a job.  The children have different fathers and neither is in their lives.  LaVaughn is spending so much time with Jolly and the children that her grades start falling and her Mom is getting worried.  LaVaughn feels guilty for taking money because Jolly does not have a job.  LaVaughn convinces Jolly to get back into school.  Jolly reluctantly attends and complains all the way.  LaVaughn basically becomes the “mom” to Jolly’s children.  Jolly is proud, but is very stubborn. She continues with school and she runs into LaVaughn occasionally in the hallways.  “It’s all completely different now.  I been broken off, like part of her bad past.  I was the one that knew the saddest parts of Jolly, I guess.”  Page 198. 

The style of Wolff’s writing is in blank verse poetry.  She writes from the point of view of LaVaughn.  The main character, LaVaughn, comes from a home with a mother and with college bound values.  LaVaughn makes reference to her mother and college several times.  On page 12 she says:  “My Mom sunk her teeth into this one, this college idea.  Every time I look like I’m forgetting college she reminds me some way.  My Mom has an attention span that goes on for years.”  Another example is on page 94, “My Mom shrugs her shoulders the way they must have taught her in Mom School before she came down to earth to get born a mother, and I take my English and my math and the lemon seeds and I go. “ LaVaughn knows that her lifestyle is enhanced with a Mom, clean home and a chance at an education.  This self awareness becomes evident when she reaches out to Jolly.

This novel contains four parts and sixty-six chapters.  The chapters include humor, sadness, sympathy, hope, and trust.  The friendship and bond between LaVaughn and Jolly is very substantial.  LaVaughn is Jolly’s “rock” for survival.  LaVaughn reaches out to Jolly, Jilly, and Jeremy through kindness, warmth, and emotions.  She brings lemon seeds to Jeremy and they plant the seeds together.  Through out the story, reference is made of trying to make lemonade out of lemons.

This heart-warming story would be enjoyed by students twelve years and up.  Young female teens can relate to the closeness of these two characters as they mature and grow.

Johnson, Angela.  2003.  THE FIRST PART LAST.  New York:  Simon & Shuster.  ISBN:  0689849222.

Angela Johnson has written a compelling Young Adult novel about two teenagers in love.

Bobby and Nia are the main characters and attend high school in New York. Bobby and Nia do all the things that teenagers do at this age.  They eat pizza at the corner pizzeria, Bobby plays basketball with his friends,  they go to the movies, and hang out with friends.  Their lives change on Bobby’s sixteenth birthday with the news that Nia is pregnant with his child. They tell their parents and both sides are disappointed, but supportive. Bobby and Nia go to the obstetrician together.  Bobby is constantly with Nia.  They both are aware they have made a mistake, but realize they will have new responsibilities with the arrival of their baby.  Feather is born and Nia has suffered brain damage. She is sent to a special home to be cared for. Bobby is devastated that Feather’s mother will never walk, talk, or smile again. Bobby struggles as a teenage father and cares for his beautiful daughter.  He eventually moves to Heaven, Ohio to live.

            Bobby is the young protagonist in THE FIRST PART LAST.  Johnson portrays him as a carefree, warm, typical active teenage male.  He enjoys hanging out with his friends and his family.  The news he received on his sixteenth birthday was difficult for him. Johnson paints an emotional picture of Bobby and he is faced with “What is the right thing to do?”  Bobby loves Nia and knows that caring for their baby is a commitment that he is going to assume. The parties, hanging with his boyfriends, going to the movies are activities of the past.  Bobby, a young single father, is forced into attending classes at school, working, and caring for his daughter.  Johnson writes about the difficulties that young teen parents are faced with and the responsibility that goes with it.

            The story is written in first person from the perspective of Bobby.  The chapters are divided with “Then,” before the baby was born and “Now,” after the baby is born.  The struggle Nia and Bobby experience should be an eye-opener for young teenagers.  Johnson does write how difficult it is to be a young parent, but she is not “preachy.”  The story is very credible because of the times and how prevalent teen pregnancy is today.

            The story contains some swear words, but tends to reflect the time, place and age of the characters.  The cover is a photograph of a young African American male  holding a young baby girl.   It would be very appealing to young teen readers. 

            The last chapter is about Heaven, Ohio.  Bobby and Feather move here to create a new life together.  Angela Johnson also wrote HEAVEN, which could be called the prequel to THE FIRST PART LAST. HEAVEN is a story about Bobby and Feather living in a town with Marley and others.  Readers were intrigued with Bobby and wanted to learn more about his past, thus THE FIRST PART LAST. 

            Johnson’s novel, THE FIRST PART LAST is a warm informative story for young teen readers ages twelve and older.  The story touches upon the responsibility needed to raise a baby alone as a single father. 

Lowry, Lois.  1993.  THE GIVER.  New York:  Random House Children’s Books.  ISBN:  0440237688.

THE GIVER is a Fantasy novel written by the famous Lois Lowry.  Ms. Lowry continues to entice the reader into worlds that have not been explored yet.  This is very true of the black and white, non feeling, community that Jonas lives in.  Jonas’s family consists of one mother, one father, and one sister.  It is a community of order, pain free environment, no unemployment, never hunger, and highly structured.  Each year when a child in a family has lived another year, there is a Ceremony and a gathering of the community to celebrate this occasion.  Jonas is now twelve and will be receiving his “assignment.”  His assignment is to be the “Receiver.”  He is nervous and has no knowledge of what this prestigious position is in his community.  He rides his bike to the building to meet his trainer.  The trainer is called the “Giver.”   He is a very old man, but is kind and loving to Jonas.  Jonas learns and accepts the “memories” from the “Giver.”  Jonas is very curious and constantly asks questions.  He quickly learns about his surroundings and becomes very disenchanted with his environment. He has a difficult time with the true meaning of “releasing” a community member. When he learns that his father sometimes makes the decision to “release” a baby or young child, he is crushed and is really mortified with his father.  His whole world suddenly begins to fall apart.  He learns that the family he loved has been lying to him and things are really not what he thought.  The Giver and Jonas talk constantly and Jonas is very inquisitive.  He accepts the “memories” of war, pain, color, love, and hunger.  Jonas learns how to pass some of these memories to Gabriel, a toddler.  Jonas can not accept the “Utopian Futuristic Society” (Amazon .com reviewer) he has lived in for more than twelve years.  He takes Gabe with him and they ride and hide for days.  They eventually glide down a snowy hill towards the happy memory of a family

and a Christmas tree.

            Jonas is a very bright young protagonist in this story.  He struggles with his new “memories” and tries to make sense of this new knowledge.  The word ‘love” is a word the Giver gave Jonas.  When Jonas asked his father if he loved him, his father made him feel uncomfortable.  Jonas soon began to question everything around him.  He felt his parents and other community members were not truthful.

            The cover of THE GIVER is very unique.  The Giver is a black and white photograph of an elderly bearded man with a quarter of the cover covered with colored trees. The cover is very creative and would be intriguing to readers from ages twelve and older.  

            Older readers may enjoy Brave New World by Aldous Huxley.  The perfect society that Mr. Huxley created makes today look a bit crazy.  The scientific creation of babies in test tubes makes one really think of what will happen next.  THE GIVER will leave the reader thinking and wondering about the possibility of what it would be like to live in a perfect, uncomplicated society.

DiCamillo, Kate.  2003.  THE TALE OF DESPEREAUX.  Cambridge:  Candlewick Press.  ISBN:  0763617229.

The well known Kate DiCamillo has been awarded the Newbery Medal Award for THE TALE OF DESPEREAUX.  This story can be considered a Fairy Tale and or an Animal Fantasy.  The book is divided into four sections.  The first part or Book the First is an introduction to the main character, Despereaux the tiny mouse of the castle.  He is what some would call a “The Ugly Duckling.”  He was very tiny, had large ears, open eyes, and was very peculiar looking to the other family members.  He was like a Curious George.  He has difficulty following the Mouse Rules.  He falls insanely in love with Princess Pea and ends up in the dungeon.

            The second section or Book the Second is the introduction of Chiaroscuro.  He is a rat and is fascinated with light.  DiCamillo describes precisely the meaning of words to her readers.  She asks, “Reader, do you know the definition of the word “chiaroscuro”?  If you look in the dictionary, you will find that it means the arrangement of light and dark, darkness and light together.  Rats do not care for light.”   Page 85.  She makes the reader feel comfortable and right there with her in the living room having a conversation. Roscuro’s behavior was usually bad.  He climbed up on a chandelier and then fell into the queen’s soup.  She died!

            The third section or Book The Third is the introduction of Gor! The Tale of Miggery Sow.  Miggery is a human and is treated very poorly by her uncle.  Her mother died when she is only six years old. Miggery lives a life of being a servant and not becoming anything more.

            The last section or Book The Fourth is called Recalled to the Light. The three characters come together with good and evil prevailing, happily ever after surviving for some and a deeper understanding of this Fairy Tale evolves.  Princess Pea gave Roscuro “free access to the upstairs of the castle, and he was allowed to go back and forth from the darkness of the dungeon to the light of the upstairs.”  Page 266. Miggery Sow did not get to be a princess, but her father treated her with kindness which she so deserved.  Despereaux and his true love became friends.

            Readers in third grade and older will be able to relate to the characters in this story.  Despereaux may be the child that looks different.  Roscuro may be a hesitant child or possibly the bully.  Miggery might be the young girl that views herself as not as pretty as her friends.  The story does have a happy ending, but maybe not the way we would want it.

            The black and white illustrations are done by Timothy Basil Ering.  They bring the Fairy Tale touch with the pencil or charcoal etching style.  The cover is done in a watercolor look of blues, golds, and browns.  Despereaux Tilling is running across the cover with a needle and red thread.

            DiCamillo includes her reader at the end of almost every chapter.  She draws the reader in with a comment or a question or sometimes a confirmation of what has just occurred in the story.  Her most commonly used statement is “Reader, it is your destiny to find out.