Summary Of Make Lemonade By Virginia Euwer Wolff

When life gives you lemons what do you make? Lemonade. The sweet, tasty, refreshing liquid running through your body. The feeling of success. In the story, Make Lemonade, written by Virginia Euwer Wolff, Jolly, a 17 year old girl, goes through life while raising two kids. She struggles both socially and financially. Unable to provide the needed living and care for her children(Jeremy,3, Jilly,1). She has low income due to her education and it isn’t enough for her family to successfully live off of. Jolly decides after getting fired to go back to school to get a higher education leading her to a better job for higher income to support the needs of her family. The environment in Make Lemonade changes Jollys identity for the better from negative

She reconnects in ways that help her reach out again to get back on track and create a better life for her kids. Jolly lost her job so LaVaughn insisted that she goes back to school to build her education. She agrees with that thought and finds a place that she can go to school. At the school that Jolly is attending it provides a daycare for her kids to go to during the day while Jolly is in class. This helps in many ways that Jolly’s kids are now getting the care that they need while Jolly is learning to get a better education to find a job which will help their family in many ways. “Jolly got herself and Jeremy and Jilly there on time... and Jolly was sitting in her class first thing.” (177) Also this his quote shows that Jolly is becoming a more responsible mother for her children and is starting to take things seriously that are important. She got her and her kids to the school on time which they are both benefitting from. “Jolly got a B one day and then three more B’s and then she did A work in typing.” (121) Lastly this quote shows that Jolly is starting to care about her work and is starting to realize that life isn’t a joke anymore. Especially with two kids Jolly needs to step up so that she is able to give these kids a life that they deserve which won’t be possible unless Jolly does what she needs to do to get a job to be able to afford things that they need to provide a living for her children. How jolly is being

Due to her going to school she needs to build those so she can communicate for herself without Vaughns help. She also needs to have better communication skills to get a good job so she can make money to support her family. “In your own words Jolly why don’t you tell us.” (124) This is coming from one of Jolly’s teacher because LaVaughn has been speaking for Jolly but her teacher wants her to come out of her comfort zone and say what she needs to say on her own to build up her social skills to help her further in life. “And I find a shock: Jolly can’t hardly spell her words. I don’t want to say anything about it. She spells some of them OK. But she doesn’t know “neighbors,” “exterminating,” “exactly,” and she spelled “loan” like “lone.” Now this is pathetic and her with two kids who can’t spell either” Who’s gonna spell for her in her life?” (62) This quote is a good example of why Jolly needs to go back to school. Moms are supposed to teach their kids how to talk and life skills but how is Jolly supposed to teach her kids that when she can’t do it herself. This could also affect her getting a job. If her social skills are low and she has bad communication that limits the jobs that she is able to work which will make it even harder on her. It proves that Jolly needs to be in school and really has to work on her social life skills. “We’ll go around the circle and you say, ‘I’m capable of,’ and you finish the sentence how you want