Aquamarine & Indigo - Alice Hoffman

Rated: 5 stars

Synopsis:

Hailey and Claire are best friends and next-door neighbors. Throughout a long hot summer they spend their days at the Capri Beach Club, dreading the end of the season when Claire will move with her grandparents to Florida. The two girls are often the only ones using the Beach Club, which is in disrepair and will close at the end of the summer. After a violent storm that whips waves from the beach into the pool, they discover a mysterious presence at the bottom of the pool - a mermaid who has become separated from her kin and is in search of love on land. As they work together to help the mermaid survive and find her heart's desire, Hailey and Claire learn to accept their pending separation and appreciate the magic of each moment they spend together with Aquamarine.

The people of Oak Grove fear water because their town once endured a terrible flood, so they do everything to keep water out of the town. Martha Glimmer and her friends, Trevor and Eli McGill, feel different from others in the town. Martha's sadness is largely due to her mother's recent death. Her father has withdrawn into his own sorrow and allowed a neighbor, Hildy Swoon, to provide meals and tend their house, but Martha resents her presence bitterly. Trevor and Eli, nicknamed Trout and Eel by those who make fun of the webbing between their fingers, have had odd habits ever since they were brought to town by their adoptive parents. The boys like to add salt to their drinking water, prefer fish to any other food, and free the frogs from the science lab at school. Martha, Trout and Eel decide to leave home to find what each most desires, but their running is cut short by a storm that brings all characters in the story face to face with their own true nature.

Thoughts:

I was really, really surprised when I started reading this book - it hadn't occurred to me that Alice Hoffman had ever written children's books or young adult novels. I just saw who the author was and added the book to my wishlist, as I usually enjoy Alice Hoffman novels. So imagine my surprise when I cracked open the book! It wasn't what I wanted to read, and as its a children's book, I don't have a whole lot to say. I would say its innovative as far as a children's book goes and that my 8 year old cousin would probably love it.

Overall

Cute little kid short stories - definitely for a younger audience

Recommended

Children, probably aged 7-10. Younger if the child has the stamina for a simple chapter book.