Poetry Review: TRUE BELIEVER by Virginia Euwer Wolff

Wolff, Virginia Euwer. 2001. True Believer. New York: Atheneum Books for Young Readers.

Fifteen-year-old LaVaughn is growing up, and in the process, she must deal with her crush on Jody, the boy who lives three floors below her; her mother's new dating situation; growing away from her friends; and working toward getting out of her squalid apartment and the housing projects.

A National Book Award winner and Michael L. Printz honor book, True Believer is the second book in Virginia Euwer Wolff's Make Lemonade trilogy about spunky urban teenager LaVaughn, whose story she tells in powerful first-person, free verse poetry. LaVaughn is a richly developed character: sensitive yet strong, bright yet confused. Amid concerns about sexuality, she and her friends Myrtle and Annie vow to save themselves for their "right husband / when he comes along." The life-long friends begin to grow apart, however, when Myrtle and Annie join the Cross Your Legs for Jesus club and LaVaughn does not: "And Cross Your Legs for Jesus seems like a good idea at first. / But it doesn't feel right / when I think about it."

Instead, LaVaughn decides to trust her own common sense and her plan to go to college, which drives her determination to stay away from the dream-killer of possible pregnancy or worse. She knows that college is her only hope of escaping the poverty and violence that define her current lifestyle. However, her focus is tested when Jody, a boy from her past, moves back into the projects. "He is suddenly beautiful," she says. He makes "my heart too loud for comfort / and my brain not so level either." Meanwhile, she's placed on a more rigorous academic track at school, which separates her even further from her friends, and her mother begins dating for the first time since LaVaughn's father's death when she was a baby.

Through LaVaughn's candid reflections, Wolff creates a strong sense of voice and shows us the innermost doubts and fears of adolescents, thoughts that most young people keep deeply hidden but that everyone has had. The art of her poetry is her ability to put words together in surprising and refreshing ways. My favorite phrases include "My throat was full of heartbeat," "In gym, Myrtle & Annie were so sideways to me, / their private looks detoured around me," and "my whole body went twang." With a subtle but clever substitution, Wolff highlights LaVaughn's isolation from her friends stylistically by always replacing the conjunction "and" with an ampersand when referring to Myrtle and Annie: "Me and Myrtle & Annie could say 1,000 examples." They become inextricably tied together by the ampersand, leaving LaVaughn disconnected from the friendship.

True Believer is a poignant coming-of-age verse novel with a hopeful message about succeeding despite the odds. Some sensitive subject matter makes this book most appropriate for high school and upper junior high/middle school grades.