The Barnes & Noble Review
Aquamarine author Alice Hoffman creates a work of literary art with this halcyon fairy tale about loss and renewal.

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.

Weaving magical words into images that caress the spirit, Hoffman's Green Angel is no less remarkable and awe-inspiring than nature itself. The author has not only told a life-affirming story about a girl who must survive on her own, she's captured emotion itself by using language to enchant and teach. Readers will be absorbed by the book's transcendent power, and as Green begins a new future that takes shape at end of the book, readers will come away feeling rejuvenated and uplifted themselves. Shana Taylor

A shy 15-year-old girl is left behind one day when her family goes into the city and perishes in a cataclysmic fire. In a boxed review, PW described the novel as "a post-apocalyptic fairy tale leavened with hope." Ages 11-up. (June) Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

Gr 8 Up-When her world disappears in a maelstrom of fire and ash, 15-year-old Green struggles to survive. Through her encounters with others she slowly begins to heal and create a new life. A beautifully written, allegorical story. Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

In oblique response to the events of 9/11, Hoffman (Indigo, 2002, etc.) crafts this otherworldly tale of an orphan giving and receiving help in the wake of a massive disaster. Describing herself as a "moody, dark weed," with an affinity for growing things, Green covers herself in darkness and thorns after watching a huge fire in the nearby town rob her of parents, and of her wild, golden little sister. Nearly blinded by falling cinders, she changes her name to Ash, cuts her hair, sews rose thorns onto her clothing, and tattoos herself all over with inky vines, briars, ravens, and bats. At first leaving her house only to find food or add stones to the cairns she's building for her family, she gradually finds herself caring for injured animals, an aged neighbor, and another orphan, a burned, silent young painter she dubs Diamond. Ultimately, time's a healer, as tears wash the ashes from her eyes, her dreams lighten, and her tattoos green up just as her devastated garden does. A suggestion that the fire was set by people who "had been living among us, pretending to be good neighbors," adds an additional, and thought provoking connection to historical events-but even readers who don't make that connection on their own will be moved by the powerful imagery in Green's spare, haunting narrative. Hoffman's other "crossover" novels have been criticized as heavy-handed; here she shows a more delicate touch. (Fiction. 11-13)