Green Valentine

by Lili Wilkinson

SHORT-LISTED: 2016 Prime Minister's Literary Award, Young Adult FictionAstrid Katy Smythe is beautiful, smart and popular. She's a straight-A student and a committed environmental activist. She's basically perfect.Hiro is the opposite of perfect. He's slouchy, rude and resentful. Despite his brains, he doesn't see the point of school.But when Astrid meets Hiro at the shopping centre where he's wrangling shopping trolleys, he doesn't recognise her because she's in disguise - as a lobster. And she doesn't set him straight.Astrid wants to change the world, Hiro wants to survive it. But ultimately both believe that the world needs to be saved from itself. Can they find enough in common to right all the wrongs between them?WC

• ISBN13: 9781760110277
• Publish Date: 29 July 2015
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: AU
• Publisher: Allen & Unwin
• Imprint: A&U Children
• Format: Paperback
• Pages: 288
• Language: English
• URL: https://allenandunwin.com/browse/books/9781760110277

Reviews

[Sarah Says]

Damn it is hard to right a review with out spoilers – This one will be quick, as I don’t want to say too much about Astrid’s relationship with Hiro, or talk about the suburb changing adventure they go on together *wink *wink.

I’ve never used this saying before but…wait for it…I totally ship Hiro and Astrid. I ship them to the victory garden and back. Oh what adorable awkward little eco-warrior darlings.

I loved how Wilkinson kept the story flowing beautifully and entertainingly while sneaking in plenty of educational environmental tidbits.

I found myself feeling like an awkward teen again while I reading Astrid thoughts. There were times when the adult in me wanted to slap some sense into her self righteous but well meaning face and tell her to stop whining, stop judging and stop ignoring her friends. And there were times when I wanted to reach in the pages and hug her and tell her everything would be alright. I really enjoyed the rollercoaster that was seeing Astrid grow and mature.

This was a super cute YA romance, with humor, heart and tomatoes. Four Stars. Aussie Aussie Oi Oi Oi. Aussie YA to be proud of.

[Kelly]

http://www.divabooknerd.com/2015/08/green-valentine-by-lili-wilkinson.html
This is what Aussie YA is all about. Green Valentine is positively lovely. A wonderful coming of age with a strong environmental conscious, that proves that friendship and falling in love really knows no bounds. Astrid is a perfect student, her peers see her as part of the popular group, thanks to best friends Dev and Paige, with teachers hanging on her every word. But behind the popular facade of the environmental activist lies a girl who's life is falling apart. Her parents have separated after her father's affair, and her mother is too busy to notice her daughter's late night guerrilla gardening rendezvous. Hiro is the opposite, his family are close knit, too close. He feels pressured to make more of his life, but takes little interest in school. He's labelled as a bad boy, drug dependent and hopeless, when nothing could be further from the truth.

I love world's collide type romances, where the storyline feeds the differences in characters and joins them through a common goal. In this case, the beautification of their suburb in Valentine. Hiro is a reluctant participant, but can't deny that even knowing Astrid and Lobster Girl are one in the same, he still feels the same attraction towards her and her fiery defiance to make the world a better place.

Throughout the storyline, the readers are treated to environmental footnotes every few pages, relating to the storyline in which Astrid shares her knowledge of carbon emission, polluting our earth and our environmental footprints. It allows readers to enjoy the storyline, while providing explanations without her character becoming too tedious. The romantic aspect really is lovely, with Hiro teaching Astrid about the plants and seeds that was passed down from his Nonna.

Green Valentine was absolutely lovely. There was something so gentle about Hiro and Astrid's story, their connection and working long into the night to make Valentine beautiful. Wonderfully written with a fresh twist to contemporary young adult. I adored it.