Sweet, strange story about a town where everyone dreads water except for Martha’s two friends (who have webbed fingers and toes). Martha, trying to escape her own family problems, decides to run away with these two, just at the time that the rains come. The book is very short, so will appeal to reluctant readers because of that. Charming with definitely positive themes dealing with family values and family love. ( )

Gillian Engberg (Booklist, Aug. 1, 2002 (Vol. 98, No. 22))
Horn Book (The Horn Book Guide, Fall 2002)
Rebecca Vnuk (VOYA, August 2002 (Vol. 25, No. 3))

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. ( )

‘Indigo’ is a very short novel for children, and another venture into the watery realms after ‘Aquamarine’ (yet another Hoffman book that became a motion picture).

Thirteen year old Martha Glimmer and her best friends Trevor "Trout" McGill, 13, and his brother Eli (also known as “Eel”), 11, lives in Oak Grove. The small inland town is dry. They drained the swimming pool, limited showering and it never rains. Residents there fear water after a terrible flood destroyed their town some years ago.

Trout and Eel are also noted for being peculiar. They have webbing between their fingers and toes, and they will only drink salt water and eat raw tuna. Their background is a mystery; they were adopted by a prominent local family. The three friends also long for the ocean.

Hildy, who is interested in Martha’s widowed father, ruins a shawl belonging to Martha’s mother. Meanwhile, the boys’ father repaints their bedroom from sea-blue to white after the boys took it to themselves to make their room a bit more like home. The three decides to run away from Oak Grove.

While they were running, something happens and change their minds. It began to rain.

You pretty much already figure out what the two boys are from the clues given in the book. Along with themes of friendship and acceptance, you get the evergreen story of being true to yourself even if everyone else tells you that you’re wrong.

This coming of age fable has intriguing premises, but suffers from being way too short. I get a feeling that I will like Martha, Trout and Eel a lot more if we knew more about them. However, the narrative remained at an impassionate distance, merely reciting the events instead of drawing you into the story. It may work for younger or less fussy readers, which is the real audience of this book anyway.

(2006)

Lexile: 980
Reading Recovery: 30
DRA: 44
Fountas Pinnel Guided Reading: Y
green star