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La Vaughn is a fifteen-year-old with countless questions on her mind. She wonders about her future, about God, about life and death, and why bad things happen in the world. This book is second in a trilogy, and follows the first one titled, Make Lemonade. La Vaughn, and her mother are forced to face the world alone when they lose La Vaughn�s father to a shooting. They live in a dangerous part of town, and struggle to survive so they can one day leave that area. La Vaughn is a teenager with a good heart, who has a determination to go to college. She often speaks of getting away from the kind of life they |
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have in that neighborhood. Her mother often reminds her of the importance of a good education, and of how the sacrifices they are making now will pay off when she gets her education. �Verna La Vaughn. You remember your college plans,� her mother tells her. She has gotten a new job, but it is more demanding and she will be gone a lot. It also means that more money goes into her college funds. She often reminds her of the things that can ruin these plans. �You know what would stop your college plans for sure, La Vaughn....a baby.� She warns her about getting confused with a boy and quickly forgetting her college plans, but La Vaughn promises that she will not be confused or distracted. Life is not easy for the two of them. La Vaughn finds that she is losing her friends, and that her new classes are often very difficult. She was moved to more advanced classes because the school sees she has potential. She is pulling through because her promise of a better future makes her strong.
A variety of topics are presented in this book which young adults will find appealing. The author presents single parents (her mom is a widower, and her friend Jolly has two kids), rape, poverty, friendship, and homosexuality. The character feels very real, and teenagers will quickly feel they can relate to the countless confusions going through her mind. As her level of education is improving, readers witness a more articulate character, and the people around her see a difference in her as well. Teenagers who at some point may feel misunderstood will be able to relate to the life the characters lead. More than once, we see that a higher education is often shunned in their environment. When a classmate tells her she seems to think she is better than him, she confides in one of her after school grammar classmates, only to find out that her boyfriend broke up with her when he saw the change in her. �It�s a price I pay,� she says. As the story continues, entirely written in free verse, we witness La Vaughn growing internally and making some decisions in her life. She begins to see that life is difficult, but that one must continue working towards a well-defined goal. She must accept that people are different and that despite the differences, they are all after the same goal: surviving and leading a joyful life.
Wolff, Virginia E. 2001. True Believer. New York: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0-689-82827-6. |
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