Make Lemonade, by Virginia Euwer Wolff

The lemony yellow and summery blue on the cover of this novel belie the depressed surroundings and tough circumstances faced by Wolff’s characters. Once you read the first few pages, you quickly remember that lemons, despite being the color of sunshine, are indeed sour.

In fifth grade, LaVaughn asks her single mother if she can go to college someday. After that, LaVaughn says, “COLLEGE is in my house,/ and you have to walk around it in the rooms/ like furniture.” LaVaughn’s mother will not let the dream of college die, even though they barely have enough money for food and their small apartment. When LaVaughn responds to a help-wanted ad for a babysitter, she sees a prime opportunity to start saving for her future. She quickly falls in love with baby Jilly and toddler Jeremy, and doesn’t mind helping their seventeen-year-old mother, Jolly, who is even poorer than LaVaughn and her own mother. Ultimately, LaVaughn must choose between helping herself rise out of poverty or sacrificing her own success to help Jolly, Jilly, and Jeremy, who have become her second family. Although LaVaughn is four years younger than Jolly, LaVaughn quickly exceeds the young mother in maturity and responsibility, making her quite the heroine in the reader’s eyes.

While the story line itself is amazingly powerful, it is also Wolff’s writing that sets this book apart. Imagine Shakespeare as a teen girl living in the projects in the 21^st century and you will get a taste of Make Lemonade. The beautiful but raw blank verse compliments the action within the story, making this ideal for both literary geeks and those who avoid anything referred to as a novel. An introductory page lists all of the awards that Make Lemonade has won. Read one chapter and you’ll have no doubt why this book is a winner.

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Wolff, V.E. (1993). Make lemonade. New York: Henry Holt and Company. ISBN 978-0-8050-8070-4.

So B. It, by Sarah Weeks

Heidi was barely a baby when her and her mentally disabled mother appear on the doorstep of their agoraphobic neighbor, Bernadette, in Reno, Nevada. Heidi’s mother has no identification and the ability to speak only 23 words. Bernadette knows the two cannot survive on their own, so takes them under her wing and deems them So B. It (the only words that came out of Mama’s mouth) and Heidi It. From that day on they form an odd family, but one that is full of love.

Agoraphobic Bernadette always says Heidi and her mother simply “fell from the sky” but when Heidi discovers old photographs in their apartment that reveal a piece of her mother’s past, she must know more. Bernadette cautions her that “there are some things in life a person just can’t know.” But Heidi insists on making a solo journey thousands of miles away to Liberty, New York, to the special home she believes her mother stayed in years ago to figure out not only her mother’s past, but her own history. So B. It is literally and figuratively a story of personal exploration and growth, with a dash of mystery and suspense. This is also an amazing portrait of unconditional love and the many definitions of family.

Because of the strong presence of a mentally challenged character, Weeks’ novel reminded me a lot of Al Capone Does My Shirts. So B. It may not have as much boy appeal as Al Capone, but it is equally as captivating and powerful and, in my opinion, a great contender for big screen adaptation.

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Weeks, S. (2005). So B. It. New York: Harper Collins: ISBN 978-0064410472

Esperanza Rising, by Pamela Munoz Ryan

On her family’s ranch in 1920s Mexico, Esperanza Ortega has servants to help her bathe, a pile of gifts on her birthday, and never has to cook or clean. She has no idea about life “on the other side of the river.” But when a huge tragedy forces the family to travel to California and find work as field workers, Esperanza quickly learns about life for those less fortunate. Esperanza herself is forced to (gasp!) sweep, care for the younger children, and eventually join the farm laborers. Life becomes ever more difficult for Esperanza with the threat of a workers’ strike, a family illness, and raging dust storms. Can she let go of her spoiled habits to help her family get back on their feet?

My favorite part of Ryan’s novel is seeing Esperanza slowly transform from a spoiled, aloof little girl into a mature and driven young woman who consistently values her family above all. Although Esperanza is facing the start of adulthood within a very specific time period and setting, I believe most tweens will be able to relate to the acceptance of more adult roles and responsibility.

Also, even though the novel is set during the Great Depression, many of the same immigration and labor issues are still relevant today, especially in border states like California. This is great as a leisurely read or could be tied into fourth grade state history or social studies curriculum.

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Ryan, P.M. (2000). Esperanza Rising. New York: Scholastic Press. ISBN: 0-439-12041-1.

Rodzina, by Karen Cushman

After losing her siblings in a fire, her father by a runaway horse, and her mother to despair and fever, Rodzina is “alone, hungry, and miserable.” She finds herself first living on the streets of Chicago and then being taken in by the Little Wanderers’ Refuge orphanage. The orphanage can only house and feed Rodzina for so long, and as per their usual practice, puts Rodzina and dozens of other parentless children on an orphan train headed West. Although Rodzina is frightened and even imagines jumping off the train to live on the streets again, she knows there are good people in the world and continues to pray that she will be adopted by a loving mother and father. She also finds solace in caring for the younger children on the train, and especially feels for those orphans whose families are still alive but could not care for them.

Will Rodzina become a slave to a rich family, wind up homeless again, or find a loving mother and father? Rodzina’s story, as well as the rich Polish and American history woven into the novel, will hook readers and keep them guessing to the very end of this Newbery Medal Winner. Cushman also does an excellent job of detailing the American landscape in late 1800s.

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Cushman, K. (2003). Rodzina. Dell Yearling, New York, NY. ISBN 0-440-41993-X