True Believer

By Virginia Euwer Wolff

True Believer continues the story of Verna LaVaughn from Make Lemonade.  It begins when she is fifteen years old, and discusses many of the emotional changes she experiences at this difficult age.  The book explores a change in her relationship with two best friends who join a new church, LaVaughn's reaction to her mother being courted by a man from her new job, and LaVaughn's first big crush on a boy who lives in her building.  Throughout the book, LaVaughn discovers a great deal about herself and who she is becoming.

LaVaughn's character is very believable, and her responses to each situation that comes up resemble that of many teenage girls.  Her character does not appear to be stereotypical of a teenager living in the city.  The entire book offers a true glimpse of what life is like for LaVaughn, and is quite similar to what many teenagers experience.  The events in the book do not resolve themselves like fairy tales, but everything does work out nicely in the end.  The book is set in an inner city, and the descriptions of LaVaughn's home and school seem to be authentic.

True Believer offers young readers a powerful message about making decisions regarding what kind of person they want to be.  The author easily illustrates a strong example of a young girl developing her personality and making decisions about who she wants to be, without overpowering the book with life lessons.  This is an excellent book for any teenager to read.  I feel that most teenagers will relate in one way or another to LaVaughn's emotions and experiences.