Boys, Bears, and a Serious Pair of Hiking Boots by Abby McDonald

Boys, Bears, and a Serious Pair of Hiking Boots
Abby McDonald
Candlewick Press
978-0-7636-4382-9
Borrowed from library.

It's always nice when a character - and a book - find a balance. When we first meet Jenna, she is a die-hard leader of the Green Teens, loudly protesting her school's plans to sell off a field that may or may not contain a rare species of...grass. Her summer plans of interning with Earth Now go awry, and it looks like she will be stuck in a retirement community in Florida - but wait! Her hippie godmother Susie is rennovating a B&B up in Canada - surely she could use an extra pair of hands.

Canada! Lush forests, wildlife, cute boys in plaid: the perfect place for a young environmentalist. It goes without saying that everyone there will share her enthusiasm for protecting the environment at all costs, right?

Now, there's nothing wrong with dedicating yourself to a good cause, but...sometimes it's a good idea to have all the facts before you open your mouth. Jenna learns quickly - and painfully - that sometimes what you accuse your enemy of (like making decisions based on your own priorities without considering the faceless individuals they affect) becomes the exact thing you are doing yourself. Black and white becomes a little grey, first impressions have to be corrected on both sides, and Jenna is forced to examine which of her ideals are actually her own, and which she has just adopted out of a need to belong.

A fun read, with a little bit of thinking but not 'too much', we give it a

4 out of 5.