Indigo

by Alice Hoffman

Book 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...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0439256364
• ISBN13: 9780439256360
• Release Date: June 2003
• Publisher: Scholastic Paperbacks
• Length: 96 Pages
• Weight: 0.26 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.2" x 5.3" x 7.8"
• Age Range: 9 to 12 years
• Grade Range: Grades 4 to 7

Customer Reviews

Indigo Review

Title: Indigo Author: Alice Hoffman Main Characters: Trevor, nicknamed Trout, and Eli, nicknamed Eel, are brothers. They received their nicknames because they have webbed hands and feet. They were adopted when their mother, a mermaid, drowned. Trout is thirteen and Eli is eleven. Their dream is to go swimming. Martha is the thirteen-year-old girl who lives next door to Trout and Eel. She hates her size, age, and Oak Grove. She hates how it never rains and how the grass is so dry. She is also very sad because her mother died last year and Hildy Swoon, a neighbor, has taken over. Hildy has made it clear that she isn't interested in Martha's company. Plot: This is a story about three friends who hated their town. All of the buildings were white, it never rained, and the grass was dry. They longed to find the ocean. They decided to run away during the night. Martha brought some snacks but only enough for a day. They made it to the woods the first night but a bad storm came in the morning. A branch fell and broke Martha's arm. They decided to turn back so that Martha could go to Dr. Marsh, but the town began to flood. The brothers realized that the dam needed to be taken down to let the water flow out and allow the town to emerge from the water. The brothers swam to the dam and pushed down the big stone. The brothers felt at home in the water. The boy's parents always feared that if the boys found water that they would not want to come back. Martha's dad had become so sad that he had lost sight of anything fun. The flood was actually a good thing. The boy's parents realized that their boys would indeed return. It also gave Martha's dad a new perspective. It had made Oak Grove seem brand new, as if the floodwaters had washed everything clean. Setting: Town of Oak Grove, which is far away from water. The story takes place in the month of July Theme: The Ocean Rating: I liked the story because it has a lot of imagination and description. It paints a great picture for the reader.

An engaging, fable-like story

"Indigo," by Alice Hoffman, tells the story of Martha Glimmer, a 13-year old girl who lives in the inland town of Oak Grove. Her best friends are Trevor "Trout" McGill, age 13, and his brother Eli (known as "Eel"), age 11. The boys are odd outsiders with curious webbed toes and fingers.Ultimately, the three kids go on a journey of self-discovery. These are three likeable, interesting characters and Hoffman tells their story with a simple, clean prose style that is very effective. Straddling a line between fantasy and science fiction, "Indigo" ultimately remains grounded in the very real theme of young people discovering themselves and their places in the larger world.

Water isn't everything

Indigo by Alice Hoffman is a phenomenal book that is about three kids named Martha, and brothers Trout and Eel. Martha and the brothers live in a place called Oak Grove which is nowhere near water and all of the people in the town except for Martha, Trout and Eel, are scared of water because of a nasty flood. Because the brothers aren't afraid of water and have webbed hands, the townspeople think they are wierd. In the three kids' search for water, they go on a journey for only one night, because it started raining then flooding and they were worried about their loved ones. When they got back to town, they found the town had flooded and the people were on their roofs. Then Trout and Eel become heroes by saving the town, even though they were outcasts.

Home to the sea!

Once again as she did in her first novel for younger readers, Aquamarine, Alice Hoffman delights readers of all ages with her book Indigo. Focusing on the magical nature of the sea, the author introduces us to memorable characters we won't soon forget.Oak Grove is a town which fears water. Years before there was a devestating flood and now there is little water anywhere - pools are covered over, showers are taken with a minimum amount of time and few if any even think about a vacation at the sea. In this dry town live three children linked by the parched land who do dream about seeing an ocean, river or even a stream. Martha is best friends with Eel and Trout, adopted twins. For this young woman the loss of her mother and her father's unremitting grief and loneliness fill her with a need for the friendship of these brothers. Martha is also beginning to think that life away from Oak Grove, near water would be much better for her as well as the twins. For it is the the twins who have always had dreams about living near the ocean although why remains a mystery to them. And then one day Martha decides its time for them to find the ocean but shortly into their journey, the town of Oak Grove is threatened by a flood and the outcome of the flood and their adventure will forever change these young peoples lives.In this slim volume, Hoffman has written volumes about the forces of love, friendships and following ones own paths and desires. This is a book well suited for adolescents and adults alike. It is always a joy to read anything by Alice Hoffman, particularly when it is a moral tale. And Nobody does realtionships and love better than Hoffman. I hope that she will continue to write books for younger adults and adults as well with these wonderful themes and I will surely continue to read all of her books. In case you couldn't tell Alice Hoffman is one of my very favorite writers.

Loss and Discovery

This lovely novella is emotionally satisfying with just the right balance of magical adventure and thoughtful human drama. It is a tale of three friends, 13 year old Martha and two brothers who are nicknamed Trout and Eel because of some peculiar attributes they posess. The story takes place at a time when Martha is mourning the death of her mother, growing into young adulthood, and coping with her father's grief-related emotional distance. Her best friends are going through some changes of their own and are outcasts in the small community due to unusual physical characteristics. Due to a flood disaster that hit Oak Grove before the kids were even born, pretty much everyone around is fearful of water and the local river is blocked off from town by a wall of stone. Nobody goes swimming even on hot summer days. Trout and Eel are drawn intensely to water and have unusual and astonishing aquatic abilities, all of which make their loving adoptive parents very frightened and exposes mysterious questions about the boys' past. How the three choose to deal with their problems makes for an interesting and moving magical tale of discovery. This is a fantasy allegory of finding one's true self and of love, committment,and true friendship. The characters are sensitively drawn and the story weaves an evocative tapestry of emotional complexity, satisfyingly resolved. Young adults will certainly enjoy this book and can't help but benefit from its thoughtful message of self-actualization. This is a well-crafted book with a beautiful smooth indigo colored dust jacket. It is small, short and sweet and would make a wonderful gift for someone going through the nebulous world of a young teen.