Green Angel

Green Angel

Author: Alice Hoffman

Copyright: 2003

Publisher: Scholastic

ISBN: 0439443857

pages: 116

4.5 (out of 5) STARS

Plot Summary

In lyrical words that "unfold like white flowers, petal by petal, each in its own time and season," Hoffman introduces us to Green, a gentle teen whose name reveals her connection to the earth and a peaceful beauty that contrasts with her sunny sister, Aurora. Yet when Aurora and her parents perish in tragic, fiery events in town, a solitary Green transforms herself into Ash: hard and closed, cropped hair, thorns on her sweater, with ink roses and ravens drawn on her skin. Facing an apocalyptic future of looters visiting her garden and suspicious looks from townsfolk, Green has only the family dog to keep her company. But when a ghostly greyhound and a hooded boy suddenly appear for companionship, she slowly realizes that "Ash" is only temporary, while "Green" is her soul, her life, healing all this time inside, waiting to be reborn.

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/410615.Green_Angel

Critical Evaluation

I often seek out apocalyptic books. For example, I have enjoyed The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, Unwind by Neal Schusterman, and Uglies by Scott Westerfield. I enjoyed this book as well but it does not seem terribly apocalyptic. It is only somewhat applies that the fire that occurs at the beginning is anything apocalyptic.

Green's depression and sadness over her family's death is believable. But over time her soul heals and she is able to be herself again. I think this book can be helpful with dealing with grief. The human spirit is amazing and can heal from nearly everything over time.

Reader’s Annotation

After losing her sister and parents in an apocalyptic fire, Green must survive on her own.

Information about the author

Alice Hoffman was born in New York City on March 16, 1952 and grew up on Long Island. After graduating from high school in 1969, she attended Adelphi University, from which she received a BA, and then received a Mirrellees Fellowship to the Stanford University Creative Writing Center, which she attended in 1973 and 74, receiving an MA in creative writing. She currently lives in Boston.

Hoffman’s first novel, Property Of, was written at the age of twenty-one, while she was studying at Stanford, and published shortly thereafter by Farrar Straus and Giroux. She credits her mentor, professor and writer Albert J. Guerard, and his wife, the writer Maclin Bocock Guerard, for helping her to publish her first short story in the magazine Fiction. Editor Ted Solotaroff then contacted her to ask if she had a novel, at which point she quickly began to write what was to become Property Of, a section of which was published in Mr. Solotaroff’s magazine, American Review.

http://www.alicehoffman.com/hoffman-bio.htm

Genre

science fiction with some fantasy

Curriculum Ties

art. nature. social studies

Booktalking Ideas

*What would you do if you lost your family? *How would you survive if everything around you was destroyed?

Reading Level

ages 12 and up

Challenge Issues

N/A

Received the Michigan Library Association Thumbs Up! Award Nominee (2004)

Why Included?

I found this book on a list of short books to read when your book report is due tomorrow. I thought these types of books would be good to know about as a librarian.