Literature / Green (2011)

Green is a 2011 Young Adult Literature book by Laura Peyton Roberts.

On her 13th birthday, Lilybet Green gets kidnapped by leprechauns, who take her to their clan to fulfill her role in her Secret Legacy: She's next in line to be keeper for the Clan of Green, in charge of their treasure. But before she can become the official keeper, she must pass The Three Trials.

For the fantasy novel by Jay Lake see Green (2009)

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Green includes examples of:

• Affectionate Nickname: The leprechauns almost always call her "Lil," and they adore her.
• Birthday Beginning: The story begins on Lily's 13 birthday, the age at which the leprechauns deem her old enough to be a keeper.
• Coming of Age Story: Of course.
• Cool and Unusual Punishment: Lily assigns Cain community service, orders him to pay for the Scarlets' damages... and forbids him to grow a mustache for 5 years.
• Disappeared Dad: Lily's parents divorced when she was a baby, and her dad died shortly after.
• Embarrassing First Name: Lilybet. That's why she goes by Lily.
• Exact Words: Clover swears work this way.
• Friendly Rivalry: The Greens and the Scarlets
  Ludlow: The Scarlets aren't our enemies, you understand. More like rivals. Friendly rivals.
• Gold Fever: The leprechauns all have it, and leplings too.
  Lily: Is there anyone here who hasn't felt the pull of gold? The way it gets into your blood and pumps through your veins like a fever? That's part of being a leprechaun, isn't it? I've felt it myself. In the keep, surrounded by all those coins and nuggets, the bars stacked up to the ceiling . That gold shines with its own light. It hums like a lullaby and beats like a heart. Gold comes alive for us.
• Half-Human Hybrid: Leplings are mostly human, with one leprechaun ancestor way back there.
• The Hero's Journey:
  • Beginning: The story begins in the ordinary world of the heroine's normal town. She is dissatisfied with her life there.
  • The Call: The Herald comes in the form of the package on her doorstep, bringing a Call to Adventure. Then she gets Kidnapped by the Call.
  • Crossing the Threshold: When Lily is taken through the tunnel into the Meadows, the Land of Adventure.
  • Road of Trials: She must complete several trials
  • Night Sea Voyage: Lily has to steal Scarlet gold
  • Apotheosis: She fails, get put in jail, gives up. Then—with a little magic help—she finds her Heroic Second Wind, breaks out of jail, gets the gold, and returns to the Greens victorious.
  • The Return: Lily returns home, braver and more clever than before.
• Important Haircut: It starts as a Traumatic Haircut when most of Lily's long hair is burnt away in an explosion, but becomes an Important Haircut when the leprechauns turn it into a cute pixie haircut that Lily embraces.
• Kidnapped by the Call: Lily by the leprechauns in the beginning.
• Leprechauns: The premise of the story
• Lineage Comes from the Father: Gender-Inverted Trope. The job of keeper is passed the maternal line. Maureen had only a son, so they skipped a generation and waited for her granddaughter. With Kylie, the Scarlets' chose a male keeper, which is considered ridiculous by the other clans.
• Literal Genie: Lily is savvy enough to decide not to ask for anything when she gets the chance to have a pisky grant her a wish.
  Lily: I wish... I wish... I wish you would accept all of our silver buttons and my sincere apology. Take the gold coin too.
  Pisky: That is your only wish? That is what you most truly desire?
  Lily: Yes. I wish for exactly what I said. No more and no less—just that.
• One-Gender Race: Downplayed to make it reasonable. There are female leprechauns, just a lot less of them. Justified as it serves as population control for a very long-lived species.
  Brownwyn: We leprechauns live a long time, Lil. A very long time, indeed, by human standards. If our numbers were equal between the sexes, we'd have overrun you ages ago. But our lasses are born scarcely one to four lads. It's nature's little way o' keeping the folk in check.
• Posthumous Character: Gigi
• Secret Legacy: Being keepers of the Clan of Green
• Sequel Hook: The three favors she has from Cain, the practice of stealing between the clans that her third trial surely restarted, Kylie's mysterious backstory, Lily's comment that as the keepers of their clans they will surely see each other again, all hint at a sequel. So far there isn't one, though.
• 13th Birthday Milestone: Lilybet discovers her leprechaun ancestry and her Secret Legacy as the next keeper of the Clan of Green on her 13th birthday, when she is deemed old enough to take on the role.
• The Three Trials: To become keeper, Lily has to pass 3 trials.
• You Owe Me: As part of his punishment, Lily declares that Cain owes her three favors.
  Lily: Lastly, you owe me three favors, Cain, to be collected whenever I say.