Not Easy Being Green.qxp:Layout 1By Melody Carlson
Multnomah Books, $12.99, 245 pages

It’s a Green Thing is more than an eco-friendly book for young adults. It’s a powerful story of a mature sixteen year old girl who is struggling with defining her belief in what God really wants for her life and the effects of the choices she makes. Maya grew up with a famous rock-star dad and a drug addict mom who’s in prison for her escapades. Maya now lives with her uncle and cousin and is determined to emancipate herself before her mom’s next parole hearing. Being a new Christian, Maya is faced with different challenges that set her apart from being “normal” and she soon learns that what’s important to God is important to her. The author, Melody Carlson has written a series of diary perspective stories for teens in the first person vernacular and in doing so reaches a depth that would otherwise be overlooked. She lays some basic principles of the Bible out for the readers but in a way that will spark their own definition of inner self, desires and beliefs. In addition to all this, Maya ends each chapter of her diary with a Green Tip reminding all to do our part for the environment. Brilliantly thought out and written.

Reviewed by M. Chris Johnson,

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