GECDSB's Just Read "Green Angel"

SUMMARY:
Green and her family live a simple life outside the city. She is learning to be a grower and healer at her mother’s side, and she and her beautiful, wild sister are excited about the promise of their future. Life is good, and she doesn’t foresee anything darkening her horizon, until one day when the rest of the family go into the town to sell their produce. Green desperately wants to go, and is so upset at having to stay home and be the responsible one that she refuses to speak to them when they leave.

While in the city, a devastating fire sweeps through the area, destroying Green’s family and many others. Unable to accept her loss and the guilt she bears, Green retreats into a world where all things are barren, the world is dark, and she must wear thorns and tattoos to protect herself from being hurt again. She becomes Ash, and is Green no longer.

Slowly, through the course of the next year, Green starts to deal with her grief as various animals and people pass through her small, ash-covered garden. It is no surprise, therefore, that just as spring comes to overtake winter, so too will Green return to discover that she never really left after all.

WHO WOULD LOVE THIS BOOK? A kid who...

loves poetic, metaphoric language
enjoys stories that are a bit weird and off the beaten path
is into growing things, healing, caring for animals, etc.
has dealt with some personal grief
has created barricades to protect them from that grief
likes “wild girl stories”
is okay with stories that don’t expect you to take them literally
doesn’t want to read anything too big or lengthy

WHAT ELSE?
Green’s story is told in lyrical prose full of imagery, and at times it is startling in its beauty. If a child has lost a parent or sibling, however, be aware that this story will likely strike too close to home for comfort. Also, some students will be intrigued and/or upset by Green’s decision to tattoo thorns, vines, bats, and black roses on her body, but by the end of the story they will presumably understand that this is metaphoric and not an endorsement of body art, self-mutilation, etc.