Mom, Will This Chicken Give Me Man Boobs?

Book excerpt: After moving to ultra-eco-conscious Vancouver, Robyn Harding vows to decrease the size of her family’s carbon footprint. Ten-year-old Ethan worries about getting moobs from hormones in the food supply, so Robyn commits to buying organic. She quickly discovers that to keep the family in organic milk, she’ll have to sell a kidney. Then, eight-year-old Tegan becomes obsessed with the diminishing polar bear population. Soon Robyn finds herself making litterless lunches, greening her home, and valiantly trying to de-commercialize Christmas and birthdays. To make matters worse, she befriends a three-children, no-car single mother who shuttles her offspring and their various musical instruments (including a cello) around by bike and trailer. Who can compete with that? Harding deals with the challenges of ethical consumerism with spirit and wit, pondering how far her family has come, how far they’re willing to go, and whether she can go green and stay sane — and keep her kidneys.