Make Lemonade

At the beginning of Make Lemonade, LaVaughn takes a job babysitting for Jolly, even though it will likely compromise her studies. What are LaVaughn’s reasons for accepting the position? How do her conflicting desires to connect with Jolly and excel in school affect her throughout the novel?

When LaVaughn first meets Jolly, she is immediately struck by her filthy apartment, and she continues to emphasize the mess throughout the novel. How does this mess, and the changes that occur to it over the course of the book, reflect Jolly’s overall circumstances? Wy do you think Jolly is at times incapable of cleaning up?

While LaVaughn is supposedly just a babysitter for Jolly’s children, she actually assumes a much larger role. Discuss the connections and responsibilities LaVaughn takes on for Jolly and her children, and how these relate to the larger themes of the book.

Virginia Euwer Wolff dedicated Make Lemonade to “young mothers.”How is this dedication reflected throughout the book? What does Jolly’s situation, and the way Wolff chooses to depict it, say about the lives of teenage moms?

How does the author’s choice to write Make Lemonade in free verse affect the reading experience? How does the format add depth to the novel’s themes and character development?

Describe how education influences both Jolly and LaVaughn. How do both teens’ lives and characters change as a result of their educational experiences?

Compare LaVaughn’s family background to Jolly’s. How do the teens’ divergent experiences growing up affect their current choices? What do Jolly and LaVaughn’s circumstances say about the importance of family in a young person’s life?

Throughout Make Lemonade, Jeremy attempts to grow seeds from a lemon pot, but the seeds don’t actually blossom until the end of the novel. Discuss Jeremy’s and other character’s varying attitudes toward the lemon pot throughout the book. How does the lemon pot reflect the novel’s larger concerns?