Make Lemonade by Virginia Euwer Wolff

From the Paperback:
Jolly is seventeen. She can't really spell. She doesn't have much of a job. And she has two little kids from two different, absent fathers.
   Jolly knows she can't cope with Jilly and Jeremy all by herself. So she posts a notice on the school bulletin board: BABYSITTER NEEDED BAD. No one replies but Verna LaVaughn, who's only fourteen. How much help can she be?
   For a while, Jolly, Jilly, Jeremy, and LaVaughn are an extraordinary family. Then LaVaughn takes the first steps toward building her own future, and Jolly begins the long, slow process of turning the lemons of her life into lemonade.

"If you want something to grow
and be so beautiful you could have a nice day just from
looking at it,
you have to wait.
Meanwhile you keep watering it
and it has to have sunshine
and also
you talk to it."

Just under 200 pages and written in free verse, Make Lemonade was a pretty quick read. I was a little worried about the free verse style because I don't normally read much of it, but it allowed the author to put emphasis on certain words and it was ultimately fun to read. Published in 1993, I kept wondering if this was a book I had read in high school, but it must not have been, I remembered none of it. It does have that feel to it though, a book that'd be assigned. It does have some content that might be deemed inappropriate by a school board: teenage pregnancy, sexual assault, and dropping out of school to name a few. The overall message is inspiring though.
   Another thing I really liked is the absence of race. There is absolutely no mention of ethnicity in this book. A reader could assume whatever they wish, but the lives presented could be any race at all. No group of people is exempt from a hard life.
   I recommend this book to those of you with little time on your hands for reading. The formatting makes every chapter a short read. It's easy to pick it up, read two chapters, and go back to your daily activities without losing much time at all. It doesn't feel like a huge commitment every time you pick it up.