Indigo

Reviews

Praise for INDIGO:This slim offering finds Hoffman (Aquamarine) once again in mermaid mode. In landlocked Oak Grove where a flood years ago has made the townspeople so fearful of water that the local swimming pool stays drained 13-year-old Martha Glimmer mourns her mother's death and chafes under the disapproving ministrations of busybody neighbor Hildy Swoon. Martha's best friends Trevor and Eli McGill adopted brothers better known as Trout and Eel have problems of their own, including town gossip about their odd eating habits (salt water, raw tuna) and their webbed fingers and toes. After Hildy ruins Martha's prized possession, a shawl that had belonged to her mother, and the hydrophobic Mr. McGill repaints his sons' bedroom white (they preferred the "endless blue" of the sea), the three of them decide to run away. Broad clues point to the story's core secret, that Trout and Eel are the sons of a mermaid. An accomplished storyteller, Hoffman deftly interweaves themes of friendship, identity and the tension between family ties and freedom that adolescence inevitably brings ("I thought if you got too near to water, you would swim away," says Charlie McGill to his boys. They will, they assure him "But then we'll swim back"). However, the text has been stretched to fit the format of a novel, which may unfairly raise readers' expectations. Together with the sketchy characterizations and particularly the author's cool, dispassionate tone, the presentation may hamper readers' full pleasure in the tale.--Publishers Weekly, March 11, 2002Hoffman's previous foray into fabulae for young adults was -Aquamarine (BCCB 2/01), a tale about a stranded mermaid helped by two soon-to-be-parted friends. The setting in this second water-fable is not a seaside resort but the landlocked town of Oak Grove; the main characters here are also high and dry, albeit not literally. Thirteen-year-old Martha is mourning the death of her beloved mother and saddened by her father's consequent self-isolation. Her two best friends, adopted brothers Trevor and Eli (a.k.a Trout and Eel) are isolated by their physical differences (webbing between their fingers and toes) and by their desire for the sea, which they have never seen. When the three decide to leave home and head for the coast, their departure is complicated by a violent rainstorm that threatens to drench the town. Fortunately, the boys' natural gifts allow them to save the town from flooding, and eventually their mysterious origins are revealed (they're the offspring of a mermaid and a sailor). The plot is obvious, and it's device, not drama, that brings this story to its contrived end. Hoffman does capture the essence of the innocently knowledgeable adolescent in the characterizations of Martha, Trout, and Eel, however, and the supernatural overtones will intrigue readers. The production values for this little novella are very high-running headers, page numbers, and full-page illustrations for each chapter are done in an inky blue; endpapers feature a light-shot sea with fish silhouettes. Fancy but facile, this is still an easy booktalk, and it may have transient appeal for mer-people aficionados.--Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, June 2002 Water's dangerous and that's always been true," says Charlie McGill. Everyone in small, dry, landlocked Oak Grove agrees except for McGill's sons, Trever and Eli (Trout and Eel), who have an unusual connection with water--and a preference for anchovy pie over ice cream and, most distinctively, webbed fingers and toes. Their best friend is 13-year-old Martha Glimmer, heartbroken over her mother's death, who, like the brothers, feels herself an outsider. Dreaming of escape, the three run away, but a flash flood upsets their plans and helps them discover important truths about who they are and what they want. Hoffman follows her first title for young readers, Aquamarine (2001), with another spare, water-soaked tale populated with mermaids and eccentric small-town characters. Here the messages are heavy-handed and the plot contrived, but readers who like fables will connect with the vivid writing and with the friends' restlessness and yearning for self-discovery and adventure. Moody, blue-tone photographs complete the stylish, compact design. --BooklistIn the manner of a fairy tale, this story begins with a town that seems to be under a curse. Fifteen years ago, a flood devastated Oak Grove, and its inhabitants dammed up the creek so that water would never flow through the town again. Everyone is terrified of water except for motherless Martha Glimmer, 13, and her two best friends, Trevor "Trout" and Eli "Eel" McGill. The adopted brothers love sardines and saltwater, and their webbed fingers and toes reveal early on that they are the offspring of a mermaid. The book encompasses a wide knowledge of fairy-tale archetypes, such as the heroine who sets out on a quest for identity, the widowed father distracted by grief, the scheming would-be "wicked step-mother," the dead mother's talisman (a yellow silk shawl), and the companions with magical gifts. When Oak Grove is once again threatened by flood, the three water-lovers will (of course) be the town's salvation. Unfortunately, the beautiful, poetic phrases juxtapose sharply with tired idioms, and the omniscient, sometimes jarring tone distances readers from the text. While the story is more developed than the author's Aquamarine (Scholastic, 2001), it is strictly an additional purchase.--School Library JournalThe town of Oak Grove has dammed up the river, closed the public pool, shuns bathtubs, and puts limits on showering times, declaring itself dry following a disastrous flood fifteen years ago. Two brothers, Trevor and Eli McGill, and their friend Martha feel trapped in this dry town. The boys, nicknamed Trout and Eel for their odd mannerisms and characteristics they eat nothing but fish, put handfuls of salt in their water, and have a thin webbing between their fingers and toes are haunted by disturbing dreams of escaping to the sea. Martha, unhappy because her mother has died and her father seems lost, longs to be anywhere else but in Oak Grove. The three decide to run away on the eve of a terrible rainstorm but end up turning back to eventually save the town from another flooding. Much like her previous work for young readers, Aquamarine (Scholastic, 2001/VOYA April 2001 ), Hoffman weaves a modern fairy tale about friendship and identity into a slim novella. It is a quick read, and the brevity might appeal to reluctant readers. Younger readers will enjoy the mystical undertone of the story and easily accept the odder facets of the plot the boys' mother was a dying mermaid who gave them to a childless couple but older readers might be left unsatisfied and looking for more to the story. Rebecca Vnuk. 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.--Voice of Youth AdvocatesPraise for AQUAMARINE:"Hoffman's spare words reveal the magic and the gritty realism in daily life, 'somewhere between laughter and a wave breaking.'" -- Booklist"A gossamer fable." -- Kirkus Reviews"Young teens will be entranced by the strange dreaminess of this poignant little story about love and loss." -- Amazon.com"Hoffman creates an apt metaphor for that twilight time between childhood and adolescence when magic still seems possible and friendships run deep and true." -- Publishers Weekly Expand reviews