Olivetti

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.

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.

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.