Green

January 4, 2010
Like Harry Potter, 13-year-old Lily Green receives a special delivery on her birthday—a package that explodes on her front porch, leaving her with singed hair and a gold, emerald-encrusted key. She recognizes the key—it belonged to her late, beloved grandmother, Gigi—but not the little men who have brought it, a trio of leprechauns who have come to escort Lily to her true calling as keeper of the Clan o' Green, a wealthy community of leprechauns. Lily, like Gigi, is a “lepling,” a human with a drop of leprechaun blood, and as such, she is in line to safeguard the clan's gold stores, if she can pass three increasingly difficult tests. Though the outcome is never in doubt, Roberts (Queen B
) threads enough tension to keep the pages turning. Lily herself is not the most likable character, and she gets a little too much help from others in conquering her trials. Hopefully, she will come into her own in future books, as the ending suggests there's more of Lily's story yet to unfold. Ages 10–up.

February 1, 2010
Gr 4-6-This book starts off with a bang, literally, as Lillybet Green prepares for her 13th birthday in a new town with no friends and a lack of coordination that makes her the brunt of jokes in her gymnastics class. When an exploding package sends her on a magical journey to a valley inhabited by leprechauns, she figures that it's just a concussion from the blast, but soon she realizes that she has more in common with these green characters than she could imagine. Three trials are presented that Lillybet must pass in order to take up her true place in this magic kingdom and have any chance of returning her and her mom to their California home. But it's hard to be human in a tiny world in which magic rules and things are not always as they seem. In her attempts to complete the required tests, she challenges herself, gains confidence, and learns the true meaning of friendship. Lillybet relies on her brain as well as her own mystical powers to maneuver through the leprechaun world while finding her true place with her mom and newfound friends. Readers who enjoy similar series like Daisy Meadows's "Rainbow Magic" (Scholastic) or Jan Bozarth's "The Fairy Godmother Academy" (Random) might like this book, but a lengthy story line that tends to drag may deter less-determined readers."Cheryl Ashton, Amherst Public Library, OH"

Copyright 2010 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

December 1, 2009
Grades 5-8 The only way back is forward. Be what youd become. Leprechauns dont swim. It never hurts to take a sweater. Lying here is A-OK. Such is the advice 13-year-old Lilybet receives in a letter from her recently deceased grandmother, Gigi, after Lily is snatched from her front porch and deposited with much ceremony into the world of little green men (and women). Seems that Gigi was the keeper of the Green tribes pots o gold, and Lily is meant to take her place. But first she must prove herself brave, clever, and loyal by completing three treacherous tasks, and by exposing the traitor trying to sabotage her. A fun, fresh take on leprechaun lore that pushes well past typical depictions to embrace banking transactions, lepro-human relations, and some creative problem-solving. Lily is a credible hero, by turns scared and confident, and definitely one young readers will enjoy following.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2009, American Library Association.)