Make Lemonade

At the beginning of Make Lemonade, LaVaughn brings 2-year-old Jeremy a pot of soil and helps him to plant lemon seeds, telling him “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” (25). LaVaughn instinctively understands how watching something grow out of nothing and bringing beauty to a dismal environment could help a child like Jeremy deal with his bleak surroundings. Lemon in particular, a bright yellow fruit with a color that recalls sunlight, represents new light and hope for the future.

Jeremy takes LaVaughn’s advice to heart, as he often sits and watches the pot, sometimes talking to it and calling it “‘lemon blom’” (25). While Jeremy gets “mad at the lemon seeds/for not being a lemon plant” (76), he never stops watching and waiting for the plant to grow. At the end of the book, Jolly tells LaVaughn that “‘We got a little green thing,/a little lemon thing comin’ up’” (199). As Jeremy’s lemon plant grows, it mirrors all the other growth that has occurred by the end of the novel: Jolly is working to graduate from high school and improve her life and the lives of her children; Jeremy is growing into a strong and responsible young boy who helped to save his sister’s life; and LaVaughn is closer to her goal of attending college and securing a brighter future.