Lily's mum owns a hairdressing and beauty salon. Lily's older sister Faye works there too. Faye loves all the fuss over hair styles, nail polish and beauty treatments. None of this interests Lily but she does love to invent. It is her job to clean the salon and so she is very familiar with the ingredients in the products sold in the salon. Lily does not like the idea of crushed beetles in nail polish so she sets about creating her own 'natural' formula for skin cream and lip gloss.
One day when she is cleaning an expensive bottle of shampoo crashes to the floor. Lily hides this disaster by refilling the bottle with a concoction of her own. She uses ingredients from the kitchen but it does not smell right. She needs to add orange. There is an orange tree hanging over the back fence with one perfect orange. Lily picks the orange and straight away we know this shampoo is going to be special - in a good way or perhaps in a disastrous way.
"I stood on tiptoe and plucked the orange. The air was still, but I could have sworn the jagged tooth-like leaves of the tree shivered."
Lily and Faye only have one week to save the salon which is also their home. Business has been bad since a rival salon opened at the shopping mall. Perhaps this new shampoo will save the day.
The Brilliant ideas of Lily Green is a delicious romp filled with friendships (old and new), delightful combinations of ingredients which make the beauty products sound appealing and a little touch of magic (good and bad) that comes from the plants that gown in the mysterious garden next door.
I really enjoyed all the names of the beauty products, their wild ingredients and the crazy results from using them:
Glue Goo - holds your style in place after you shampoo no hair spray or gel needed
Happy Hair Sparkle Mist - no more hair tangles
Lip Switch - lip gloss to match your mood
Spraynbow - rainbow hair to match your mood (watch out this one is dangerous)
A refreshing, inventive story full of mischief and dollops of gloop for readers aged 9+. Readings
This book was the winner of the Ampersand Prize in 2017. You can listen to an interview with Lisa Siberry here. Another Ampersand winner that I loved last year was Ottilie Colter and the Narroway Hunt.
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