Olivetti

Millington, Allie. Olivetti

March 26, 2024 by Feiwel & Friends

E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus

The Brindles are a close knit family, with busy lives; Athletic Ezra; theater-loving Adalyn; anxious, dictionary fan Ezra; and young Arlo, who has pet frogs. Watching over all of them is the sentient typewriter Olivetti. When Beatrice Brindle, the mother, drops off Olivetti at the local pawn shop and asks for exactly $126 in exchange, Olivetti (who remembers everything ever typed on his keys) feels betrayed. When Beatrice then goes missing, the Brindles are understandably worried and set out to look for her. The police tell them that all indications point to the mother running away on her own, and don't necessarily feel that she is in danger. When the family is in the pawn shop hanging up missing person signs, Ezra sees the typewriter and knows that something is wrong. He talks to the daughter of the owner, Quinn, who later leaves the shop door open so that Ernest can retrieve the typewriter. He quickly finds out that Olivetti can talk to him, and he pours out his own sadness onto the keys in the same way his mother did. Ernest feels that his mother's leaving is his fault; he was supposed to go to a new therapist to talk about why he is anxious and finds it hard to talk to people, preferring to read the dictionary instead of making friends. We also hear from Olivetti, as he is left on the roof of the San Francisco apartment building where the family lives, and is descrated by pigeons. Quinn becomes involved, and she and Ernest take to the library to try to find clues. They realize that the mother made friends with the building handyman, Thiago, and also learn from the librarian, Mrs. Vivien, that the last book the mother checked out was The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. In addition to finding clues about Beatrice's whereabouts, there are lots of conversations with Olivetti, and hundreds of pages of Beatrice's thoughts are typed out by Olivetti. When Quinn takes the typewriter back to the shop, he is bought by an evil artist who uses typewriter parts to make sculptures, and Olivetti narrowly escapes being completely destroyed. Ernest gets in trouble for the time he spends skipping school to hunt for his mother, and when he comes clean to his father, Felix, about the talking typewriter, the entire family gets involved in the investigation. The reason for the mother's disappearance becomes clear (I don't want to spoil it), and she is eventually tracked down. The family must deal with very serious issues in order to go forward, but are able to do so with Olivetti's help. Olivetti's talking abilities do help to save the library, which was going to be forced to close. 

Strengths: This is the most lovely cover I have seen in a while, and I am a HUGE fan of typewriters, although prefer Smith-Coronas to Olivettis or Remingtons, one of which makes an appearance at the pawn shop. (I own six or seven that I picked up at thrift stores before they became expensive.) This is an innovative way to include a magical element, and the mystery is solved in a believable way, using clues wisely. The Brindle family is quirky but interesting, and the family secret is sad but doesn't have to deal with the mother having an affair or something not in keeping with middle grade themes, which I feared for a bit. Quinn is an interesting character, and a horrific element is introduced with the typewriter cannibal artist. Olivetti has a very distinctive personality that seems right in line with how I would imagine a typewriter personality to be. Certainly, this is a completely fresh idea for a  middle grade novel. 
Weaknesses: Olivetti talks a lot about snot and bodily fluids, which seems an odd thing for a typewriter to be interested in. It also seemed off that typewriters do not like books. Typewriters can be involved in the writing process, so I thought that this level of hatred would be saved for computers. The  introspective tone of the book seemed more in keeping with books for adults with a children as protagonists. 
What I really think: This is a good choice for readers who like books that try to soften sadness with magical elements, like Haydu's Eventown or Bushby's A Pocketfull of Stars. It also reminded me strongly of Broach's 2008 Masterpiece.