Greenwald, Lisa.
MY LIFE IN PINK AND GREEN
New York : Amulet Books, 2009
IL YA
ISBN 0810983524

(2 booktalks)

My Life in Pink and Green by Lisa Greenwald has a cover and a twelve-year-old narrator that grabs you from the first page.  Lucy Desberg works daily in the pharmacy owned by her mother and grandmother (who are often like oil and water).  In the course of her duties she discovers the pharmacy is in danger of failing due to both the local economy and competition from the bigger chains.  Being a natural problem solver Lucy begins to devise plans to bring more customers into the pharmacy.  When the local Homecoming Queen comes to the pharmacy with a bad hair situation, Lucy fixes the problem because she knows the products they sell.  She also discovers she has a skill and knack for make-up skillfully applied and environmentally and parent friendly.  Lucy also supports her best friend Sunny through her first crush on a boy.  Just how powerful though can one seventh grader be in saving her family from financial ruin?  Can she make the needed difference?  Grab this humorous and serious realistic fiction read and find out.  (New Hampshire Great Stone Face nominee, 2011)

Booktalk #2

Lucy Desberg’s life is in trouble!  Her family’s pharmacy is about to close for good and her mom and grandma can’t stop worrying…and fighting…about it.  Lucy has ideas to help, but no one seems to want to listen to a 7th  grader.  When Lucy unexpectedly saves the high school  homecoming queen from a humiliating hair disaster, word spreads and customers begin to visit the family store again.  Add some behind-the scenes scheming, good friends, eco-friendly ideas and it looks like Lucy might save the day!   But will it be enough, or in time, to save the store and the family from breaking up?  (Pennsylvania Young Reader's Choice Awards, 2011-2012)