From: Karen L. Simonetti <klsimonetti>
Date: Thu, 12 Jul 2001 16:58:39 -0500

Well, the bad news is that there is no prize from yesterday's contest. But, I thank you all for supplying the Booklist issue that Kathleen referred to in her July 11th post. But, the good news is that after staying up all night and re-reading -Make Lemonade- (to figure out if I "insisted" that the characters were African-American), I got curious and put together a webpage with the various cover arts of -Make Lemonade- from a few select countries. The URL for the website that contains cover art from the hardcover and paperback versions of -Make Lemonade- is:
  http://home.earthlink.net/~klsimonetti/literature/wolff/

By clicking on each link, a new browser window will open with the source of the book's cover art from that particular country. My German is rusty (and really a derivative of Yiddish), but I do believe that the German title literally translates to "Make lemonade out of it." And aside from the American paperback version, only the German cover art indicates a surreal dusty, urban scene with human figures. Anyone have any thoughts on the artwork? Frankly, I like the abstract cover art best. I feel it lends itself to the possibility of more; more readers reaching for the book + experiencing the power of Ms. Wolff's story.

Which got me to thinking about who I saw/heard in LaVaughn's narrative: My experience, my upbringing, my childhood, my part of the collective memory all led me to believe that LaVaughn, Jolly and many of the other characters are black. And contrary to Kathleen's post of July 11th, I don't necessarily think this is a bad thing. -Make Lemonade- does not libel or stereotype any ethnic group, but in order for the story to work/to be whole, the characters must live in a believable world and be believable. Certainly, part of that believable world is having the characters be of a particular race or ethnic background. However, I do not believe that my reading of LaVaughn and Jolly as black is necessarily the only reading; the story exists/works no matter what ethnic grouping is assumed/not assumed by the reader. And that factor is an integral part of the magic of Ms. Wolff's writing.

Indeed, the starred, Booklist review of -Make Lemonade- specifically says
"Rooted not in a particular culture, but in the community of poverty, the story offers a penetrating view of the conditions that foster our ignorance, destroy our self-esteem, and challenge our strength." I believe The Horn Book and other reviewing journals noted this sincerity and candor as well. Now, as to the matter of the 2/15/01 Booklist "Top Ten Black History Books for Youth": Taken in conjunction with the aforementioned review, I think that having -Make Lemonade- on the list is a tribute to the book's power to address many issues: one of which is disadvantaged urban youth. It would be foolhardy to disregard the fact that there are black, disadvantaged, urban youth. NB: In no way does this fact nor the listing of the title on the "Top Ten Black History Books for Youth" (especially in conjunction with the above-referred to Booklist review) exclusively or summarily imply anything derogatory or make any hasty, nasty assumptions
(eg, all black YAs are disadvantaged urban youth).

What if 99,999 black YAs read -Make Lemonade- and felt that all the characters were of African-American descent? Would that be a "wrong" reading on their part? What if 99,999 Hispanic YAs read -ML- and felt that all the characters were of African-American descent? Would that be a
"wrong" reading on their part? Certainly, there are heroes in both life and fiction that cross cultural and ethnic borders.

Further Affiant Sayth Naught. {Translation: Time to finish reading -True Believer-}

Karen Sue...who really would love to hear from others, especially about the artwork...
Received on Thu 12 Jul 2001 04:58:39 PM CDT