In My Green Style, Pearl is putting on a fashion show while trying to save the world from itself. She is deeply concerned about the environment, and determined to make her high school leadership project sustainable by upcycling clothing instead of buying new outfits for the catwalk. Multiple conflicts arise during her planning and preparations: style vs. responsibility, her own values vs. those of her less activist-minded classmates, teen idealism vs. the more practical approaches of good-hearted but annoyingly grown-up politicians, and more. These are all good places to start, but My Green Style is too slim to take on so many thick topics.

Lea Beddia is the author of several books for young people, including Take Off!, which I reviewed in these pages. An engaging read, with a gripping momentum from the first sentences, Take Off! was short and the language was simple, but the characters came to vivid life with the help of some precise, carefully chosen details.

My Green Style
Lea Beddia

Lorimer Kids Canada
$19.95
paper
120pp
9781459420236

Another part of the problem lies in the characterization. Pearl’s nemesis, Keri, a fast-fashionista who wants to control the fundraiser from beginning to end, is broadly painted. She is the abrasive and vain antagonist, and we are told, more than shown, that she has enough brains and sensitivity to allow for some growth – overall, she remains flat. Secondary figures, like Pearl’s friend and co-organizer Ally, are thin to the point of transparency. Pearl finds an adult mentor, but the relationship seems less than realistic: Sylvie’s repetition of the phrase “I love your passion” becomes hollow, and one starts wishing for a prickly Tim Gunn type or a maternal RuPaul, anyone with a few layers.

The most vivid character in the novel is Pearl’s grandfather, whom she calls Nonno, a veteran of the garment industry whose eye for style surprises Pearl’s friends, and who rolls up his sleeves to get involved in their project. He also gives us some insight into Pearl’s family background, and, due to both his charm and the inclusion of interesting details about topics such as the history and technology of textile recycling, Nonno’s chapters are the most engaging. But we quickly move on from him, and this reveals the novel’s main structural flaw: there are too many threads, involving too many characters, for a novel of under 120 pages. The result is that everyone is underdeveloped.

This includes Pearl, our responsible and idealistic hero. One would expect her interest in clothes, her fear of climate change, her creativity, and her glossophobia to make her a relatable and rounded protagonist. However, each of these dimensions needs many more pages if it’s to fully come to life. Ultimately, Pearl is more a vehicle for an environmental message than a real person.

My Green Style moves too fast to build investment in Pearl, her friends, and their goals. I look forward to Beddia’s next novel – Take Off! was one of my favourite young adult reads in recent years – but this one left me wanting less polemic and more depth.mRb