Indigo by Alice Hoffman

From the Publisher

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.

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.

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.

Deana Rutherford, Teen Reviewer - 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,

Paula Rohrlick - 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.,

School Library Journal

Gr 5-8-In 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.-Farida S. Dowler, formerly at Bellevue Regional Library, WA Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.

Product Details

• Interviews & Essays

Interviews & Essays

Barnes & Noble.com: Where did the idea for Indigo come from? Did you intend for this book to "feel" similar to Aquamarine? Both books rely heavily on water imagery and beings (mermaids, mermen...). Do you have a personal connection with water?

Alice Hoffman: Growing up on Long Island, I spent a great deal of time at the beach as a child, and water imagery is always important to me on many levels -- especially as a reflection of our dream lives and of the unconscious. I do think of Aquamarine and Indigo as sister-and-brother books; they reflect each other. I'm also a Pisces, drawn to the water by my nature.

B&N.com: Your books are described as fantastic and magical...and they all resound with elements of magic. Do you believe in magic? How does magic figure in your own real world?

AH: I think that magic has always been a part of literature. As a reader, I began with fairy tales, folktales, and my grandmother's Russian stories, so it is a natural way for me to tell a tale. I have always incorporated magical elements into my work -- often from the natural world. A mermaid is an incredible being, but so is a firefly.

B&N.com: The characters in both Aquamarine and Indigo rely heavily on their friendships -- which are strong and significant -- for getting through difficult situations, and healing. Were any of your own childhood friendships the inspiration for this? Did you -- like the characters in both books -- ever have to come to grips with your best friend(s) moving away?

AH: I'm always surprised when I read books in which the characters have no friends or when friendship doesn't matter in a novel. It's a theme I'm interested in, and it's also important in building a character. My friendship with my oldest friend, Carol -- we met when we were both three years old -- was the model for the girls in Aquamarine. Carol did move away to Maryland when we were in high school. Though it was traumatic, we have maintained our friendship to this day. Both Aquamarine and Indigo are about the importance of friendship and deal with the ways in which love and friendship continue even in the face of loss, whether it be a move to another state or a death.

B&N.com: Is Martha Glimmer anything like you were as a child? She's certainly experienced a lot of loss in her young life. Where did you find her voice?

AH: I wrote Indigo soon after the loss of my mother. Writing the book was a healing experience and allowed me to relate to Martha's loss. Like Martha, I think my friends very much helped me through, reminding me that we have to live in the present, while bringing the past with us in our hearts.

B&N.com: Do your own kids influence your writing?

AH: I began to write children's books because I wanted to include my children in my work and share the process with them. My youngest son is now 13 and is a great reader and editor. My oldest friend, Carol, has a daughter, Allison, a senior in high school, whom I always go to for advice on teenage issues.

B&N.com: Do you find it more difficult or easier to write for young people as opposed to writing for adults?

AH: I actually think there's not much difference in writing for young readers or adults. I might avoid certain subjects that wouldn't be interesting or appropriate for a certain age group, but the heart of a book is still the same.

B&N.com: Were you a storyteller and/or writer as a child? Did you always want to be a writer?

AH: I was more of a reader than a writer, although I think all writers begin that way. My Russian grandmother was a storyteller, as was my father, so stories were important to the people I loved. I never imagined that I myself could be a writer -- so I feel lucky when it comes to that.

B&N.com: Do you have plans to write more books for young people? Are you working on anything right now?

AH: I love writing books for young people, and have just finished a postapocalyptic fairy tale called Green Angel that has to do with love and loss and being young. For me, a book like this works if it is as meaningful for a child or teenage reader as it is for an adult reader.

B&N.com: What are some of your favorite children's books?

AH: My favorite books when I was growing up were the wonderful magical books of Edward Eager, one of the inventors of suburban magic. Magic or Not, Magic by the Lake, and Half Magic were my absolute favorites. I was also a big Lassie and Lad fan. I also adored Mary Poppins. I read a great deal of science fiction and fantasy, and loved the brilliant Ray Bradbury. Later on, I read adult books that I found on my mother's bookshelf, including Catcher in the Rye and anything written by Shirley Jackson, especially We Have Always Lived in the Castle. I've always believed that what you read as a child influences you forever, not just as a reader but as an integral part of the person you grow up to become. The way you experience the world is, in part, formed by what you read as a child. I think that's why the books you love as a child stay with you more than any others. They're a part of your childhood...a part of you.