Through the Looking Glass Children's Book Reviews
My Life in Pink and Green
Fiction
For ages 12 and up
Amulet Books, 2005 ISBN: 978-0810983526
Lucy loves the pharmacy that her family owns and runs. Unfortunately, the pharmacy, like so many smaller family owned businesses, is in financial trouble. Lucy wishes there was something that she could do about the problem. Surely, there is something that she, her mother, and her grandmother can do to save the pharmacy? They can't just give up can they?
While her grandmother gets more and more pessimistic and her mother tries to come to terms with what is happening, Lucy tries to come up with strategies that will make the pharmacy more attractive for customers. Her first innovation happens quite by chance. After she gives a distraught high school girl a remedial makeover, Lucy is heralded as the make-up queen for teens. Girls come to her before a party or a date to be beautified. Then Lucy decides that the pharmacy needs a relaxation room, a space where customers can comfortably wait for their prescriptions to be filled.
Though these are good ideas and though they do bring in a little money, the pharmacy needs a lot more. While attending an Earth Club meeting, Lucy learns about a new initiative that the mayor is launching, and an idea pops into Lucy's head. Perhaps there is something that she can do to save the pharmacy after all. All she has to do is get lucky and persuade her mother and grandmother to take her seriously.
All too often the ideas teens come up with are shot down before anyone properly listens to what they say. This is unfortunate because their ideas can be good ones that are innovative and creative. In this novel we meet a young woman who knows what she wants and who is determined to do what she can to help her beleaguered family. Looking at the problems of her family business in a new way, Lucy finds a solution that will save the business and that will set a new environmental standard for the businesses in her town.
