Green Angel and Green Witch

Green Angel has sat on my school bookshelf for a couple of years. I always had the intention of reading this book. I simply never got around to picking it up and giving it a try. I am so glad that on a recent trip to the local library (YEA FOR LIBRARIES!), I glimpsed the YA librarian reshelving Green Witch, Alice Hoffman's follow-up to Green Angel. I knew that I needed to read both books!

Green Angel is about a fifteen-year-old girl named Green who suffers an unspeakable loss of her entire family due to a disastrous act of man. Green is overwhelmed by the loss of her family and her world as she has known it to be. She retreats and starts to destroy herself; she inks herself with dark images and tries to become a new person. Will Green ever learn to love again? What does the future hold for Green?

Beautiful writing here from Alice Hoffman. But it was the second book, Green Witch, that really captured me!

Green Witch continues the story of Green a year after the disaster that occurred in the first book. I loved this book so much more than the first--the story--the writing--the meaning that it held for me and the connections I made as I read this book.

Here are some passages that spoke to me...

"What you see, you can understand...But I had looked at the outside of things, not at the true, ever-changing heart. Look at a cloud and see how it becomes a swan, a rose, a lantern, a lion. That is the only way to understand that all clouds change...Not a single one can ever stay the same...That doesn't mean it's not still a cloud."

And...

"...people tell lies. But a lie is not a story, it's simply a lie. Lies become bigger, and fatter, and meaner every time they're told. They eat air and inflate with each piece of gossip. They feel real, but when you touch them, they pop like a bubble. There's nothing inside."

And...

"What you look for, you may find...Someone promised me this, but I shook my head...Surely, wanting more would only bring more despair...But desire can drive you for miles. It can lead you in ways you never would have imagined. A map can be written in ashes, earth, water, air. Take a step and keep walking. Don't be afraid to look back...In the end, every path you choose takes you closer to what you've been searching for all along."

I highly recommend that you read these two books by Alice Hoffman. What passages speak to you?

Happy Reading!

Mrs. T :)

P.S. Reading is like breathing chocolate air!