Rating: 
Summary: actually v good.
Review: True Believer is the story of 15 year old La Vaughn as she struggles to grow up in her dangerous community, all the time aiming for better things, until she gets a little side tracked by meeting Jody who she believes to be in love with. She begins to ask herself all sorts of questions about herself and the people around her.
The book is written in a series of broken sentences giving the illusion of a poem. For example:
"There was another shooting at school today.
We hadn't had one since last year. Sirens,
ambulance, fear in everybody's eyes, even the surly ones
trying to look unafraid. I was late to one class
running around making sure Jody was still alive.
The teacher didn't notice me,
there was too much chaos and hubbub
for hours.
Our school doesn't close every time gun goes off
the way good schools do,
but it takes a long time for everybody's heart to slow down."
The whole book is written as so and to start with it annoyed me slightly and I thought it was a desperate attempt from the author to make her story appear different and interesting. However, after the first few pages I got into the writing style and I think it really suited the story and it made things stand out more, making you take more notice of what La Vaughn was saying and thinking.
I think the book deals with a lot of issues but isn't as heavy as it could be, which just makes it more of an enjoyable read.
I really didn't expect to like this book, I don't know why, I just didn't think I'd like it much but I ended up really enjoying it, I'll look for more of Virginia Euwer Wolff's work, including Make Lemonade, which is the first in the trilogy and something I haven't yet read (you don't need to to understand this sequel).
An interesting and original story about the difficulties of growing up in a difficult place, but still knowing that you can become all that you would become anywhere else. I'd suggest it for teenagers who are thinking about the world around them. It really is very good!
Rating:
Summary: True Believer by A True Believer
Review: "This is the way it has turned out.
I feast my eyes on this amazing birthday
and I think I can live with the way life is.
I say in my heart,
Guy, your daughter is sixteen.
How do you feel about that."-Virginia Euwer Wolff, True Believer, pg.264 Verna LaVaughn(goes by LaVaughn) starts another year of high school. Her old neighbor moves back to her apartment, the last time they saw each other was in 4th grade and now he's totally gorgeous. She is moved up to an advanced biology, with a partner who is a really good friend but he is definitely not the boyfriend type. What will LaVaugn do when she sees her neighbor doing something shocking and her lab partner tells her something she would never dream of hearing? I would give this novel by Virginia Euwer Wolff five stars because it is a wonderful novel. It is written in an unique format so it seems very different and interesting. The format is poetry. The whole novel is written in poems by LaVaughn. It's really cool. It's also a real page turner. I read this book ever chance I got, I never wanted to put it down. This is a great book to read when you want to sit down and relax. It has such great, warm characters. I felt like I actually knew LaVaughn. I really liked the par when she was fantasizing about the dance. It seemed very real. Verna LaVaughn is a very realistic teenage high school student that goes through many normal problems and events throughout her school year. Sometimes she can be a little too full of herself. She sometimes thinks she knows everything, which can and does cause problems with her friends and mother. LaVaughn and her mother really want her to go to college. It is pretty rare for people from her dangerous town to go to college. LaVaughn and her two best friends don't agree about their beliefs and it causes LaVaughn to question her personality quite a bit. Throughout the novel you see signs of LaVaughn's insecurity. An important scene in True Believer is when LaVaughn gets moved to an advanced biology class and has a new lab partner. Being in the advanced Biology class helps LaVaughn decide her career path. This class also causes some problems in her life. Like when someone declares their love for her and when she might flunk out of it. Without this advanced class the story would not have developed. Another key scene in the novel is when LaVaughn and Jody go to the dance together it causes LaVaughn to change her feelings about him and it also causes a little heartbreak. The dance is LaVaughn and Jody's first date, it is very important to the novel. I loved True Believer by Virginia Euwer Wolff. She did an awesome job developing characters and conflicts. Anyone who likes books written in a unique format would love this book. It is also great for people who like their books with a hint of romance and suspense. It is a wonderfully written young adult novel.
Rating:
Summary: True Believer
Review: "Transcendent, raw, and fiercely optimistic." --Booklist, starred review
I chose to quote Booklist because it is the best description of this book I have found. There is nothing more to this book than those words. Told in halting verse-like form, this is a beautiful second book in LaVaughn's story.
All her life, LaVaughn's ambition has been to go to college. In a town where shootings can happen on a daily basis, kids dying of drug overdose is common, and basically no one even finishes high school, this is very ambitious. But LaVaughn's mom is willing to go to any means to get her to college-to get her out of this town. Now fifteen, LaVaughn is experiencing a mixed up life. Her mom is getting closer to a different man and LaVaughn feels that she is betraying her dead father. Her two best friends are taking a path that LaVaughn feels is very wrong. Her old friend, Jody, shows up in town, turning LaVaughn's feelings for him upside down-but does he feel the same? Through it all, the only constant is LaVaughn's undying passion to get out of town and go to college...
I know the author, and she's so sweet. It's like she'd never even imagine that you'd read her stories. But this is, in total truth, an amazingly uplifting story.
Rating: 
Summary: True Believer is
Review: ...a great book. It isn't Newbery worthy but it's a feel-good book. I really enjoyed it more than Make Lemonade. I recommend it for everyone.
Rating: 
Summary: Slow at first
Review: As an adult (34 years old) reading this book for a teen book club that I started in my subdivision, I found the book to be a bit slow at first. However, half way through the book, it grabbed my attention as the main character, LaVaughn, begins to analyze herself and the people around her. I ended up really enjoying the book. I believe that it would have inspired me if I had read it whilst a teen. It gave you a sense of hope as you hurt and heal with the characters. I smiled, I cried and I even gasped as the book took an unexpected turn. So many true lessons shared in this book. I could relate to some of what LaVaughn went through especially trying to grasp and understand the whole concept of God and church. I think teens from 12-15 would enjoy this book.
Rating:
Summary: Great Sequel
Review: At 15, LaVaughn already knows and has experienced a lot of all the bad things that teens might experience. Since Make Lemonade her life has changed. Much not for the better. She really misses babysitting for Jeremy and Jilly and can't seem to be able to communicate with her friends Myrtle and Annie anymore. Ever since they joined that church club LaVaughn finds that she is finding very little common ground with her long time friends. Plus Jody has moved back. She never really noticed how hot he was but now it seems she can't even stop thinking about him for a minute. Her life is consumed with images of him. He seems to have some interest in her but not really. All these problems have really hurt LaVaughn and it shows in her grades. If she doesn't get it together soon her collegde hopes might just be over. The only resource LaVaughn can go to is her new nursing job helping kids who are really sick. Just when things seem to be getting better LaVaughn sees Jody doing something that seriously challenges her every belief. It will push her to her limits. I really liked this book. I think it was a really big emotional roller coaster. It started out kinda slow but boy did it heat up. I can't wait for the conclusion to the Make Lemonade Trilogy!
Rating:
Summary: Believe Until Your Dreams Come True
Review: Believe Until Your Dreams Come True
True Believer is a book about a 15-year-old girl named Verna La Vaughn that lives in a not so good neighborhood. Her main goal in life is to go to college and make something of herself. La Vaughn?s focus is only on school until an old childhood friend returns named Jody. She notices what a nice man Jody has turned out to be and soon falls in love with him. They even go to a school dance together. La Vaughn wants to tell Jody how she feels but can?t because she is afraid of what he might say. Meanwhile her friends Myrtle and Annie are drifting away from her and La Vaughn feels left out or excluded. One day Jody becomes ill and La Vaughn brings him some cookies to help him feel better. When she peeks her head in the door she sees two boys talking then they lean in and kiss. She gets so scared and hurt that she goes home and cries for a really long time. La Vaughn wonders if her love is gay or straight. If he is gay how does she tell him that she knows?
I give this book 3 stars. I thought the book was good because it keeps you reading until the end and keeps you interested. This is the second book in The Make Lemonade Series by Virginia Wolfe.
Rating:
Summary: brilliant, beautiful
Review: I am a public librarian in a busy urban library. I read TRUE BELIEVER to see how it would fit in a list of books which I am preparing for a local gay teen group. Although I do not think it was a perfect match for these readers I had to trumpet this book's praises somewhere. It is a fantastic novel for young adults (frankly for anyone), lyrical, lilting, lovely. I am honored to know a couple of young women like LaVaugh. They come to my library to volunteer and study, working feverishly to fufill dreams of scholarships. The cruising boys flit in orbits around thier tables until the white and uptight librarian (that's me) chases them away and finds the ladies answers to questions in thier homework never knowing I am in awe of thier courage. Thank you Ms. Wolff for bringing them alive in your poetry. I will be passing this book out to anyone who will listen to me in the hopes that it can inspire them in some small way as these young heroines inspire me daily.
Rating:
Summary: A Great Read!
Review: I didn't much care for "Make Lemonade", but "True Believer" is one heck of a great read! I could not put it down! There is just so much about this book that reads true-to-life, it's hard for me to site examples. LaVaughn is now a real person to me, a complex young woman struggling to find herself in a very confusing time and place. Her waxing and waning relationship with her two best friends, and her (hopeful) beginning of romance with Jody, the handsome boy-next-door are perfectly tragic-comedic! And I just love the name of the religious group LaVaughn's friends join to maintain their virginity---Cross Your Legs for Jesus. Such warmth and humor and heartbreakingly realistic writing make this a book teens and young adults can easily relate to. And congratulations to Wolff for winning the National Book Award---this book deserves the honor.
Rating:
Summary: A Great Read!
Review: I didn't much care for "Make Lemonade", but "True Believer" is one heck of a great read! I could not put it down! There is just so much about this book that reads true-to-life, it's hard for me to site examples. LaVaughn is now a real person to me, a complex young woman struggling to find herself in a very confusing time and place. Her waxing and waning relationship with her two best friends, and her (hopeful) beginning of romance with Jody, the handsome boy-next-door are perfectly tragic-comedic! And I just love the name of the religious group LaVaughn's friends join to maintain their virginity---Cross Your Legs for Jesus. Such warmth and humor and heartbreakingly realistic writing make this a book teens and young adults can easily relate to. And congratulations to Wolff for winning the National Book Award---this book deserves the honor.
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