I loved this book. Yes, some parts were hard, but I think that life is that way. It is not always sunshine and rainbows. We struggle, we don't understand each other, we lose ourselves, we deal with hard things.

Olivetti was an amazing character that was well written. Just the idea of your typewriter feeling left out because technology has advanced so much, made me feel sad. I love when Olivetti discusses how a book only holds one story and that a typewriter holds a lifetime of stories. I enjoyed that the typewriters could communicate with each other. Makes me want to go buy a typewriter.

Quinn was a fun, quirky character. She had a great way of doing what was needed even though it wasn't asked for.

I will be buying this book for the library. It would make for a great YA book club book.

Thank you Netgalley and Allie Millington for the ARC of this book. It was a treasure.

Merged review:

I loved this book. Yes, some parts were hard, but I think that life is that way. It is not always sunshine and rainbows. We struggle, we don't understand each other, we lose ourselves, we deal with hard things.

Olivetti was an amazing character that was well written. Just the idea of your typewriter feeling left out because technology has advanced so much, made me feel sad. I love when Olivetti discusses how a book only holds one story and that a typewriter holds a lifetime of stories. I enjoyed that the typewriters could communicate with each other. Makes me want to go buy a typewriter.

Quinn was a fun, quirky character. She had a great way of doing what was needed even though it wasn't asked for.

I will be buying this book for the library. It would make for a great YA book club book.

Thank you Netgalley and Allie Millington for the ARC of this book. It was a treasure.12 s Karen868 111

OLIVETTI
BY: ALLIE MILLINGTON

About 3.5 stars!

A heartfelt middle grade debut told from the vantage point s of a witty typewriter and an introverted boy . Being a typewriter is not as easy as it looks, Surrounded by books (notorious attention hogs
and recently rep;aced by a computer, Olivetti has been forgotten by the Brindle family --the family he's lived with for years. The Brundles are busy humans apart from twelve year old Ernest, who would rather be left alone wit h his Oxford English Dictionaries. The least they could do is remember Olivetti once in a while, since he remembers every word they've typed on him. It's a thankless job, keeping memories alive.

Olivetti gets a rare glimpse of action from Ernest's non, Beatrice, his used to be most frequent visitor only to be most frequent visitor only for her to drop him of at Heartland Pawn Shop and leave him helplessly behind. When Olivetti learns that Beatrice has gone missing afterward he believes he can help find her. He breaks the only rule of the typewriter code and types back to Earnest , divulging Beatrice's memories stored inside him.

Their search takes them across San Francisco chasing clues, maybe committing a few misdemeanors. As Olivetti spills out the past, Ernest is forced to face what he and his family have been running from, the Everything That Happened. Only by working together will they find Beatrice, belonging , and the parts of themselves they've lost.

A cute story about how typewriters are becoming dinosaurs with the invention of laptops. This typewriter stores memories of the mother in the family who used it. Giving clues on how to locate a missing user who is the mother of the family. i thought this was an original story that educates middle graders of the importance of typewriters in the past. This typewriter becomes an animated part of this family. Cure and charming allegorical tale that reminded me how when I was in high school is how I learned to type on.

That being said I was disappointed by the unnecessary gross content that I wasn't expecting. It could be the timing but I didn't find the story was told in a more concise delivery. Maybe the younger audiences that pick this up will find it funny. I didn't. I'm no prude but I was expecting a more wholesome narrative since the publisher contains the word "Children." in it. I was expecting it aimed at children due to the synopsis.

Publication Date: March 26, 2024

Thank you to Net Galley, Allie Millington and Macmillan Childrens Publishing Group for providing me with my ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review. All opinions are my own.

#Olivetti #AllieMillington #MacmillanChildrensPublishingGroup #NetGalleymiddle-grade9 s7 comments Shannon I The Reel Bookery215 252

Heartwarming. Full review to come soon4 s Jen328 26

This was okay, but never really rose above that. The cover is gorgeous. I think the bones of the story have a lot of potential, and thought the blurb sounded right up my alley. But the writing and characters never fully drew me in.

I did the dual narration, one narrator for the chapters from Ernest's POV and one for Olivetti's chapters. I think I enjoyed the audiobook more than I would have the print, because it did up my engagement some and brought a little more life to Olivetti in particular. I've d books narrated by Simon Vance, who voices Olivetti, in the past, and again enjoyed the narration here, though I was slightly bothered by the accent so many British people seem to do when voicing Americans, which didn't really fit the way any of the characters sounded when voiced by the American narrator. So while I d his narration for Olivetti, when he voiced the other characters during those chapters I wasn't the biggest fan.

I think part of the problem for me with this book was the story trying to do too much. There's the typewriter being sentient, Ernest having no friends and really struggling, the family's past struggles and current emotional distance, a new friend Ernest meets and has trouble trusting and opening up to, a serious mystery to solve, and more. I think that just focusing on on the family would have tightened the story up a lot and made more room for character growth. As it was, each family member apart from the main character had one personality trait repeated over and over again and we knew little else about them or their relationships with one another. I usually ADORE sentient objects and robots and such in stories but I felt nothing for Olivetti. Even the typewriter didn't have enough personality to be a really engaging character. I just wanted to feel something while reading this story, a little bit of magic or strong emotion, but I never did.

I have some reservations about a book where a parent's past battle with cancer, and their cancer returning are the sort of hidden aspects of the story that are alluded to for a long time before finally being revealed. I definitely think these topics belong in books for this age group. But I don't think it's appropriate for students to be taken by surprise by them in a book, the way they are intended to here. I think that Ernest and his father and mother's navigating these incredibly difficult situations was well portrayed, but I think the story could have worked well if it had unfolded in a way where these weren't kept secret from the reader for so long. I hope that the actual book will have content warnings at the start.

I was kind of flummoxed by the emphasis on Ernest never using his phone at all. We're told this is because he has no friends to call or text with. But the internet exists. It's awesome that he has a fixation on the dictionary and really enjoys that, but there are surely groups for people who love the dictionary and games for kids who love words along with worlds of information and books and other things to delve into. I just found that aspect of the story quite odd.

I also found the worldbuilding around typewriters being sentient (such a fun idea!) to be lacking and not particularly interesting. Again, so much potential, but it never really went anywhere.

Again, this felt very much a story I would love, but the characters and writing never quite reached that memorable magic that the best books have. This would merit an additional purchase in my school library, as long as it contained content warnings so students weren't caught unawares by the difficult topics which might inspire a lot of anxiety in students who have faced similar family situations.

*Audio ARC provided by NetGalley.



elementary-books middle-grade3 s Zackary Ryan Cockrum249 82

Title: Olivetti by Allie Milington
Publication Date- 03/26/24
Publisher- RB Media
Overall Rating- 5 out of 5 stars

Review: Review copy given to me by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

First and foremost the audio production was spectacular. Very distinct voices between characters and performed in a way that the age group could hear without feeling bored.

Outside of that, I also felt this was a very powerful story. It’s heartbreaking at times and could lead to some tears. However, this is one of those stories that could spark a lot of conversation between families and answer questions that are often avoided. If I had a child I would read this with them and use it as a tool to answer questions about grief and anticipatory grief.

Not only is the story well written but the characters both main and side are very likable. Even as an adult reading this story I made notes of quotes that I appreciated.

All in all a very important story for young people and adults a. Has some magical realism that made it more interesting and took some weight off the heaviness that comes with some of the topics discussed. Very cute and also thought provoking, a good balance between the two.
3 s MaryAnn162 3

Olivetti
by Allie Millington

“Memories are heartbeats. They keep things alive. They make us who we are.”


The day his mom, Beatrice, went missing, Ernest Brindle realized he hadn’t spoken to her for seven days. They had argued over an appointment with yet another therapist. He’d told her that he didn’t want to talk to anyone, not even her. Why didn’t she understand that all he was trying to do was forget the “Everything That Happened.” Now she was missing, and it was all his fault!

Olivetti has been displaced by that attention hog, the lap top. He was once a beloved typewriter and sat in the place of honor on Beatrice’s desk. Olivetti was a trustworthy keeper of stories, memories and secrets, and now he is all but forgotten. But when Beatrice disappears, Olivetti may be the key to discovering where she’s gone.

Ernest and his family are a bit of a mess. They’ve been through a rough time and in the aftermath, they are not as close, are preoccupied with their own pursuits and have forgotten who they were as a family. The Brindles will have to band together, along with the trusty Olivetti and their friends to find Beatrice.

I was so happy to have read Olivetti for Middle Grade March. It managed to be both heartwarming and charming as it navigated big issues. The book speaks to the comfort and resilience possible in both biological and found families. It is an ode to the power of the written word and story. Some readers will have a hard time buying into Beatrice’s disappearence, but go with it, it’s worth the ride.


Many thanks to the author Allie Millington, @MacKidsBooks and @NetGalley for the pleasure of reading this eARC in exchange for an honest review.2024 arcs-gifted magical-realism ...more4 s Jessi - Jessisreadingbetweenthewines454 26

Pub day: 3-26-2024

“Memories are heartbeats. They keep things alive. They make us who we are.”

I love when a book gives a story from a unique perspective and having one from a typewriter may be one of the most satisfying and unique experiences I’ve had.
This was a very thoughtful story about both biological and found family. About individual struggles in life, how everyone handles them differently, and how important it is to communicate. It also made me really want to go out and buy a typewriter!

It was a lovely middle grade read that I’ll definitely encourage my daughter to read when she’s old enough!

Thanks to Macmillan Children's Publishing Group for the arc via Netgalley in exchange for my honest opinion.3 s Karin155 7

3.5 I d most of this book, but I struggled with the story line a little bit and with some of the choices the older characters made.3 s Yamini399 25

Narrated from the perspective of a typewriter and a young boy, this is a pleasing story of a family that is emotional and humorous. I have so many quotes that I loved reading here that they had to be mentioned at the bottom.

The story is about a typewriter counting his days in the dark corner after being replaced by modern gadgets until one day a person in the family goes missing. Olivetti (the typewriter) believes he can finally be of help, but to do that, he will have to break one of the most conspicuous rules of their world.

Olivetti is next-level witty and the sarcastic charisma of the writing style worked so well for me. It is an overall light-hearted middle-grade book but I would recommend my fellow readers to check the content disclaimers too. The narration style reminded me of the book 'Remarkably bright creatures' and I think the book will be perfect for the fans.

Thanks to @netgalley @macmillanusa @allieinink for the ARC.
Genre: #middlegrade #fiction
Disclaimers: #cancer #therapy #mentalwelbeing
Rating: 4.5/5 ??

Favourite Quote:
"If they just read the Oxford English Dictionary, they'd see both expressions were in there. They were both idioms and idioms are phrases that don't follow any kind of logic. My family apparently wasn't following any logic either because they were fighting over figures of speech. They were acting a bunch of idioms"
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