From: Dean Schneider <schneiderd>
Date: Tue, 3 Jul 2001 13:58:08 -0500

Well, I'll step up to the plate since I love both Make Lemonade and True Believer. In her Horn Book interview, Virginia Euwer Wolff does say her writing is not poetry, but Roger Sutton says, "I don't agree. I think it is poetry. Formally, it's poetry: once you've decided to use a line break for dramatic effect, whether for good or for ill, you are writing poetry." And Roger and Virginia agree that the essence of her writing is her
"concentration of language," the power of her words, getting "more ergs per word," as the best poetry does.
  I have taught Make Lemonade in both 7th and 8th grades, and it's one of my favorite books to teach. Students like the style, which is often new for them, and they often ask for other books written in verse. And since Make Lemonade was written with readers' theater in mind, it's a great novel for getting students actively involved in the reading and hearing the rich language and voice of the novel. Several sections lend themselves to imitation, too: students writing their own descriptions or stories or scenes, experimenting with the author's "funny-shaped lines" (as she called them in the HB interview). I have also asked students to try writing interior monologue modeled on a section in chapter 25 (pages 62c) where LaVaughn is weighing whether or not to lend Jolly some of the money she has saved for college. I've been fortunate enough to have had Virginia Euwer Wolff as a visitor to my school and classroom and seen her moved to tears by what students can do in their writing and readers' theater, inspired by both Make Lemonade and Bat 6 (with the 5th grade). Her characters are so real and voice is so important to her that to see and hear students so engaged must be a fabulous thing for a writer to behold.
  Beyond the lining of her prose, the imagery is vivid in Wolff's writing. The images of Jolly as an astronaut and as a television without a vertical hold are original and memorable and perfect. And the lemon seeds represent hope, as does the image of Jeremy at the end of Make Lemonade, "a boy in the air ready for his dinner; in his forgetful joy he's laughing down at my Mom who's looking up there to him, her mouth wide open and full of praise." Words that say so much about Jeremy, LaVaughn's Mom, and hope in such simple, powerful language. Poetry.
  I like the same kinds of things about True Believer, though I have not yet tried it with a class. I would love to hear from someone who has had a headstart and already tried it. I'm guessing 8th grade as the youngest I might read it with. The image I found most memorable in True Believer is the jelly fish in chapter 50, this beautiful creature that has "figured out a way to go on living when the odds are against it. It's adaptation, I learned it in Biology, and I keep thinking how it's a good lesson to keep remembering." LaVaughn comes into her own in this novel. We see her as a very real teenager struggling with what she sees and what to believe in with friends, a good Mom, and a good program at school to help her along the way. It's a novel that deals with big issues: love, death, belief, friendship, goals, education, and "is life one whole tragedy or not?" (215) As with Make Lemonade, there's poignancy...and hope, and characters we're glad to know and beautiful language that becomes a part of us.
 
  Dean Schneider Ensworth School 211 Ensworth Avenue Nashville, TN 37205 schneiderd at ensworth.com
Received on Tue 03 Jul 2001 01:58:08 PM CDT