12/18/2023
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.)
An Instant USA Today Bestseller!
An Instant Indies Bestseller!
An Amazon Best Book of the Month, April 2024
"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
"An ideal pick for readers looking for both honesty and hope."--BCCB
"A lively and tender story about language, archive, and family history, Millington’s debut will keep young readers on their toes. ... 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. A quirky, heartfelt novel."--School Library Journal
"[A] unique debut. 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... Olivetti’s snarky observations entertain, and the human protagonists’ endearing support for each other’s endeavors paints a worthwhile portrait of community."--Publishers Weekly
"Parents need to know that Olivetti, by first-time author Allie Middleton, is an emotional, heartfelt tale of love, family, and friendship in scary times. ... There's a strong message that life is going to dish out some bad things along the way, and sticking together is what helps you deal with them.--Common Sense Media
"Ernest is a memorable character in an equally memorable family."--The Horn Book Magazine
“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
01/01/2024
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
★ 2024-01-05
A magical typewriter brings healing, reconnection, and new friends to a hurting family.
Olivetti, a silent but fully conscious typewriter, has been there since the beginning, living with parents Felix and Beatrice and their children, Ezra, Adalyn, Ernest, and Arlo, a “copper-colored family with eyes as rich as ink.” Olivetti, who even took part in Felix’s proposal to Beatrice, watched playfulness and creativity grow as the children arrived, and he faithfully remembers every single word the people have typed. Then, longing to communicate, he watched the family suffer through Everything That Happened. Which is exactly what seventh grader Ernest is still trying to forget. Constantly carrying his dictionary around, Ernest spends most of his time on the roof away from others, scared of getting close to people for fear of losing them. So, when Beatrice suddenly leaves after taking Olivetti to a pawn shop, grief-stricken Ernest seeks him out and confesses that he fears he’s to blame for her departure. Desperate to help, Olivetti takes the unusual action of breaking typewriterly code: He communicates with Ernest in order to help him. But will it be enough? The chapters are told from Olivetti’s and Ernest’s first-person perspectives and frequently contain flashbacks. 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.
An extraordinary journey that speaks to the “before” and “after” of life-changing events. (Fiction. 10-14)
