Virginia Euwer Wolff
Author of Make Lemonade
About the Author
Disambiguation Notice:
Virginia Euwer Wolff, the contemporary young adult and children's author, should not be confused with Virginia Woolf, the famous 20th-century author. Note the difference in spelling of their last names.
Series
Works by Virginia Euwer Wolff
Associated Works
I'm Nobody! Who Are You?: Poems of Emily Dickinson for Children (1978) — Introduction, some editions — 755 copies
No Easy Answers: Short Stories About Teenagers Making Tough Choices (1997) — Contributor — 138 copies
Friends: Stories About New Friends, Old Friends, and Unexpectedly True Friends (2005) — Contributor — 82 copies
From One Experience to Another: Award-Winning Authors Sharing Real-Life Experiences Through Fiction (1997) — Contributor — 42 copies
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Canonical name
- Wolff, Virginia Euwer
- Legal name
- Wolff, Virginia Euwer
- Other names
- Wolff, Virginia
- Birthdate
- 1937-08-25
- Gender
- female
- Nationality
- USA
- Places of residence
- Oregon City, Oregon, USA
- Education
- Smith College
- Occupations
- high school English teacher
elementary school teacher - Relationships
- Wolff, Arthur Richard (ex-husband)
- Short biography
- Award-winning author Virginia Euwer Wolff was born in Portland, Oregon, in 1937. “I grew up in rural Oregon in a log house — with bark left on inside and out. We had no electricity, a massive stone fireplace, a grand piano, and tons of books.” Books have remained Wolff's treasures throughout her life, though she didn't become a published author until relatively late in her life. After receiving her Bachelor's degree from Smith College in 1959, she taught elementary school and later high school English.
Wolff's first book for young readers, "Probably Still Nick Swansen", was published in 1988 and won both the International Reading Association Award and the PEN-West Book Award. Since then she has written several more critically acclaimed young adult novels, earning more honors, including the Golden Kite Award for Fiction and the Jane Addams Book Award for Children's Books that Build Peace.
The mother of a grown son and daughter, Wolff is also now grandmother of two. She lives in a cottage in Oregon, where she has a studio in the middle of the woods, “with lots of skylights and room to spread out, surrounded by my books.” An accomplished violinist, she is a member of the Chamber Music Society of Oregon. She also enjoys hiking, swimming, and gardening. - Disambiguation notice
- Virginia Euwer Wolff, the contemporary young adult and children's author, should not be confused with Virginia Woolf, the famous 20th-century author. Note the difference in spelling of their last names.
Members
Reviews
True Believer (Make Lemonade, Book 2) by Virginia Euwer Wolff
Many awards. Make Lemonade trilogy.
This book is the third in the trilogy that began with Make Lemonade and True Believer. It took years (about 7 or something) between True Believer and This Full House, and there was a lot about the plot and characters that I didn't remember, but after reading a few pages of This Full House I was completely immersed in that world again. It's a realistic story set in a poor urban community about teenagers trying to succeed in various ways despite the many hardships that seem to be burying them. The writing is pretty simple but the characters are not. The story is both tragic and hopeful and full of complicated relationships. I'll admit that I cried, and I'm not usually very sappy. I love how perspectives from different generations are portrayed so beautifully, and the focus on the struggles that females face in academics, the medical world, and as lovers and mothers was really moving. I would highly recommend this whole series to everybody.… (more)
This author has a knack for using spare language to create really full characters. I don't really know how she does it. The people in this story are alive - the young, uneducated mother Jolly, her two little kids, and the fourteen year old babysitter LaVaughn are completely real and complicated people. I find myself caring so much about what happens to them that I have to keep thinking about them and trying to figure them out.
A little confusing with the changing narrative but overall a powerful and complex piece of historical fiction.
Lists
Awards
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Statistics
- Works
- 7
- Also by
- 11
- Members
- 3,797
- Popularity
- #6,677
- Rating
- 3.8
- Reviews
- 135
- ISBNs
- 97
- Languages
- 4
- Favorited
- 1