Virginia Euwer Wolff
These are the books by Virginia Euwer Wolff that are reviewed on this site:
Make Lemonade
Two young girls caught in the poverty trap both realize that life has handed them a lemon.
True Believer
Verna La Vaughn, still sees college as her way out of the poverty trap, but finds it's easy to slip on a banana skin if you keep your eyes too firmly fixed on the horizon.