Indigo
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Overview
Three friends in search of a place to belong find that home is truly where the heart is in this new tale of enchantment from best-selling master storyteller Alice Hoffman.13 year-old Martha Glimmer is convinced this is the worst time of her life. Her mother died, she grew 7 inches, and she has to put up with a woman who plys Martha's lonely father with food and opinions about how 13 year-old girls should behave. Martha longs to leave Oak Grove and travel. Martha's best friend Trevor and his brother Eli also want to leave Oak Grove. Nicknamed Trout and Eel because of the thin webbing between their fingers and toes, they long to see the ocean. Together, Martha, Trout, and Eel are going to find the true meaning of home -- in very unexpected places.
When her mother dies, Martha is so unhappy living in the dried-up town of Oak Grove, that she convinces two unusual brothers who long to return to the ocean to run away with her.
Synopsis
13 year-old Martha Glimmer is convinced this is the worst time of her life. Her mother died, she grew 7 inches, and she has to put up with a woman who plys Martha's lonely father with food and opinions about how 13 year-old girls should behave. Martha longs to leave Oak Grove and travel. Martha's best friend Trevor and his brother Eli also want to leave Oak Grove. Nicknamed Trout and Eel because of the thin webbing between their fingers and toes, they long to see the ocean.
Publishers Weekly
Three teenagers run away from a town where a flood years ago has made the people so fearful of water that the local swimming pool stays drained. "An accomplished storyteller, Hoffman deftly interweaves themes of friendship, identity and the tension between family ties and freedom that adolescence inevitably brings," PW said. Ages 10-up. (June) Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.
Editorials
Publishers Weekly
Three teenagers run away from a town where a flood years ago has made the people so fearful of water that the local swimming pool stays drained. "An accomplished storyteller, Hoffman deftly interweaves themes of friendship, identity and the tension between family ties and freedom that adolescence inevitably brings," PW said. Ages 10-up. (June) Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.VOYA
Indigo was less a book than a short story. Because of its length, there wasn't time to fully develop the characters and events. Some things seemed as though they were thrown in at the last minute, such as the rings from Trout and Eel's mother, who turned out to be a mermaid. (Surprise!) Still, the book was entertaining. It tells a story of finding yourself, but it tells it to a twelve-year-old audience. I'd recommend this book, but only to younger teens. VOYA CODES: 3Q 3P M J (Readable without serious defects; Will appeal with pushing; Middle School, defined as grades 6 to 8; Junior High, defined as grades 7 to 9). 2002, Scholastic, 96p,— Deana Rutherford, Teen Reviewer
Children's Literature
For thirteen-year-old Martha Glimmer, Oak Grove is NOT the place to live. Away from the ocean and receiving little rain each year, the small community is probably the least desirable place, in Martha's view. In fact, for Martha, Oak Grove has little to offer at all. Having lost her mother at twelve, Martha feels that she doesn't fit with the people here, unless it is with her good friends, Trevor and Eli McGill, the adopted sons of Charlie and Kate McGill. There is something strange about the boys—their webbed feet and hands and their fixation with water—have caused the townspeople to shun them and talk behind their backs, but to Martha they are just simply her friends. When the rains and flood come, however, it is Trevor and Eli who become the heroes. In this hauntingly quiet novella, Hoffman creates characters with feeling and depth that go beyond what is seen by the eye. Young adult readers will be drawn to the story and will follow the Martha and the McGills in their quest for love and acceptance.KLIATT
Hoffman follows up her first novella for YAs, Aquamarine, with another short and water-related fantasy tale. Martha, age 13, lives in Oak Grove, where the memory of a terrible flood makes everyone fear anything watery—everyone but Martha's best friends, brothers Trevor and Eli, who are nicknamed Trout and Eel for the webbing between their fingers and toes. They dream of the sea, but their adoptive parents fear they will lose them if they ever return to Ocean City, where they rescued the boys. Meanwhile, Martha's father is still grieving his wife's death, and a neighbor named Hildy Swoon, whom Martha detests, is trying to move into her father's life. The three children plan to run away to Ocean City, but just as they are leaving town a storm comes up, with drenching rain that creates another fearful flood. Trout and Eel, in their element at last, dive into the flood waters and save people in danger, clearing a wall so that the water can flow out of town. The boys retrieve long-lost memories of their mermaid mother, and their adoptive parents move with them to Ocean City. Hildy Swoon is scared out of town by the flood, and Martha's father comes back to his old self. Martha still dreams of going off to become a dancer someday, but she no longer feels the need to run away from Oak Grove. Illustrated with what looks likes indigo-tinted photos, this fairy tale is a dreamy, poignant story of friendship, love, loss, and recovery that will appeal to fantasy lovers. KLIATT Codes: J—Recommended for junior high school students. 2002, Scholastic, 84p. illus.,— Paula Rohrlick