Olivetti
by Allie Millington (Author)
A heartfelt novel praised by Tom Hanks in the New York Times as including "a conclusion nearly impossible to divine and yet so perfect it includes that most tactile of memories..."
Being a typewriter is not as easy as it looks. Surrounded by books (notorious attention hogs) and recently replaced by a computer, Olivetti has been forgotten by the Brindle family--the family he's lived with for years. The Brindles are busy humans, apart from 12-year-old Ernest, who would rather be left alone with his collection of Oxford English Dictionaries. The least they could do was remember Olivetti once in a while, since he remembers every word they've typed on him. It's a thankless job, keeping memories alive.
Olivetti gets a rare glimpse of action from Ernest's mom, Beatrice--his used-to-be most frequent visitor--only for her to drop him off at Heartland Pawn Shop and leave him helplessly behind. When Olivetti learns Beatrice has mysteriously gone missing afterward, he believes he can help find her. He breaks the only rule of the "typewriterly code" and types back to Ernest, divulging Beatrice's memories stored inside him.
Their search takes them across San Francisco--chasing clues, maybe committing a few misdemeanors. As Olivetti spills out the past, Ernest is forced to face what he and his family have been running from, The Everything That Happened. Only by working together will they find Beatrice, belonging, and the parts of themselves they've lost.
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Publishers Weekly
Olivetti--a polite and observant dark green typewriter--and an introverted 12-year-old narrate Millington's unique debut. Olivetti takes his job as a "protector of memories" seriously. Despite the recent appearance of a laptop ("the glossy show-off"), Olivetti has accumulated "an endless amount of memories" working with owner Beatrice. His patient existence is upended when he's abruptly sold to a pawn shop and Beatrice goes missing, leaving her husband and four children--including middle schooler Ernest--confused and alarmed. While putting up missing-person flyers, Ernest meets dumpster-diving Quinn, whose father owns the pawn shop. Aided by Olivetti, Ernest and Quinn team up to solve the mystery of Beatrice's disappearance, and as they try untangling Beatrice's whereabouts, Ernest frets that his reluctance to speak to a therapist about a mysterious, traumatic family event caused his mother's departure. While the tantalizing premise is hampered by cliché characterizations, incomplete worldbuilding, and a limp mystery, Olivetti's snarky observations entertain, and the human protagonists' endearing support for each other's endeavors paints a worthwhile portrait of community. Ernest and his family have "copper-colored" skin; other characters default to white. Ages 8-12. Agent: Kristen Terrette, Martin Literary. (Mar.)
Copyright 2023 Publishers Weekly, LLC Used with permission.School Library Journal
Gr 4 Up--A lively and tender story about language, archive, and family history, Millington's debut will keep young readers on their toes. Ernest Brindle's family is falling apart after the sudden disappearance of his mother, Beatrice. His siblings are squabbling, his father is unraveling, and he can't figure out why his mother would have sold their beloved typewriter to a pawn shop, of all things, before running away. Enter Quinn, the precocious daughter of the pawnbroker. When Quinn and Ernest discover that Olivetti (the typewriter) is "alive" and can type for them every memory that has been recorded on its keys, they begin a race against time to discover anything and everything the Olivetti can recall about Beatrice. With the help of a friendly, if rather stereotypical, librarian and a Brazilian handyman, the Brindle family use Olivetti's unique ability to scour Beatrice's memories for clues to her whereabouts. This is a charming story filled with idiomatic expressions and wordplay. Formatted in alternating chapters between Ernest and Olivetti's points of view, readers will be delighted by the book's playfulness, as well as its bittersweet look at the power of memory, and how a family can be broken and then healed. VERDICT A quirky, heartfelt novel recommended for general middle grade collections.--Nora G. Murphy
Copyright 2024 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.Review quotes
Millington's writing does us a great favor. Her Olivetti is neither an automaton nor a pushover — there is a painful and problematic crisis in the house he has called home and his voice drives the action with compassion. Ernest speaks with a confusion and simmering panic recognizable to anyone who was once 12, loved their mother deeply and feared for her life... The Brindles will go on confronting "Everything," with hope, gusto and all the unity they can muster. They will set the family table for seven, with a place for Olivetti; put paper in his carriage, and wait. — Tom Hanks in the New York Times Book Review
★ An introverted boy and his missing mother's cherished typewriter plumb forgotten family stories while journeying toward acceptance in this touching middle-grade mystery. The Brindle family swarms distractedly around seventh-grader Ernest, everyone fixed in their ways until the morning Beatrice, his mom, vanishes. This isn't the family's first trauma, but, after "Everything That Happened," Ernest finds an unexpected ally: Olivetti, Beatrice's classic typewriter, who explains, "We [typewriters] hold thousands of stories. Worlds full of words." ... As inanimate narrators go, Olivetti is especially well suited to the task and takes turns with Ernest in lending his perspective to the short chapters. And, as stories about stories go, Olivetti's and Ernest's insights about the power of memories, both held and shared, speak volumes. Offering a Where'd You Go, Bernadette vibe, with its unspooling of a youth perspective on the adult world, this melancholic yet hopeful pick will appeal to fans of books with nonhuman protagonists and readers who enjoy emotional stories with alternating perspectives, such as A Rover's Story and The Lost Library.—Booklist magazine, starred review
★Debut author Millington skillfully delivers a complex storyline that deals with heavy topics. With plenty of quotable wisdom, richly textured language, and dry humor, this work reads like a classic.—Kirkus Reviews, starred review
A lovable introvert, a typewriter with a lot to say, and an irresistible mystery come together to create a one-of-a-kind reading experience.-Molly Olivo, bookseller at Child's Play, Washington, D.C.
This inventive, clever, well-paced middle-grade novel will type its way right into your heart!—Paul Swydan, The Silver Unicorn Bookstore, Acton, MA
JUV028000 - Juvenile Fiction | Mysteries, Espionage, & Detective Stories
JUV039240 - Juvenile Fiction | Social Themes | Depression & Mental Illness
Mystery and detective stories
Detective and mystery fiction
Missing persons
Novels
