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A review by hickeypicks
Indigo by Alice Hoffman, Alice Hoffman
4.0
I am a huge fan of Alice Hoffman’s books for adults like Practical Magic, The Probable Future and Here on Earth. I was so excited to see her in the juvenile fiction stacks. It is a short book, less than 100 pages, but a full tale where Hoffman covers a range of emotions and rich details in this book.
Martha Glimmer has lost her mother. Her father is too sad to pay any real attention to her. They live in a town that was devastated by a flood many years ago. There is a real fear of water there among the town’s people. Martha’s two best friends are the McGill brothers (the hint in the last name was not lost on me.) The boys are unusual. First of all, they love water, while the other people in town are afraid. The boys also have thin webbing between their fingers and toes. The children call them Eel and Trout. The McGill’s adopted them while on vacation at the shore. Their origins had always been a mystery to everyone but the parents. The boy’s father fears water more than anyone in town. But his fears have less to do with the flood. The McGill’s refuse to let their boys visit the ocean and so seeing the ocean becomes an obsession for them.
Martha, Eel and Trout decide to run away so they can see the ocean, but on the night they leave, another rain storm comes, causing another flood. The boys risk exposing what creatures they really are to help save people.
The characters in this book are so interesting and easy to relate to. Martha is trying to figure out who she is without her mother. Her mother was an exotic woman who loved to dance. Martha clings to a silk shawl she remembers her mother dancing with. The boys, Trout and Eel are full of wonder and I couldn’t wait to find out where they came from and who their real mother was.
This would be a good introduction to fantasy for a child who is used to reading only realistic fiction. Alice Hoffman has written another water tale called Aquamarine.
Martha Glimmer has lost her mother. Her father is too sad to pay any real attention to her. They live in a town that was devastated by a flood many years ago. There is a real fear of water there among the town’s people. Martha’s two best friends are the McGill brothers (the hint in the last name was not lost on me.) The boys are unusual. First of all, they love water, while the other people in town are afraid. The boys also have thin webbing between their fingers and toes. The children call them Eel and Trout. The McGill’s adopted them while on vacation at the shore. Their origins had always been a mystery to everyone but the parents. The boy’s father fears water more than anyone in town. But his fears have less to do with the flood. The McGill’s refuse to let their boys visit the ocean and so seeing the ocean becomes an obsession for them.
Martha, Eel and Trout decide to run away so they can see the ocean, but on the night they leave, another rain storm comes, causing another flood. The boys risk exposing what creatures they really are to help save people.
The characters in this book are so interesting and easy to relate to. Martha is trying to figure out who she is without her mother. Her mother was an exotic woman who loved to dance. Martha clings to a silk shawl she remembers her mother dancing with. The boys, Trout and Eel are full of wonder and I couldn’t wait to find out where they came from and who their real mother was.
This would be a good introduction to fantasy for a child who is used to reading only realistic fiction. Alice Hoffman has written another water tale called Aquamarine.