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Indigo Blue Cathy Cassidy Penguin Young Reader Group © 2005 |
Indigo thought her life would get better before it got worse, but it doesn't
happen that way. Mum moves Indie and her baby sister Misti out of the nice
comfortable house with Max, into the flat from hell. Max was mum's boyfriend
and Misti's dad, only he was abusive. For a few months, mum and Max had been
fighting, and Max was physically abusing mum. Every morning she would have new
black and blue marks all over her. Mum slept down stairs, but she really
wasn't sleeping all that much. She had made up her mind to leave Max, so she
was secretly packing and bring the stuff to the new home. The three moved
blocks away from Max hoping that he would never find them. Indie still went to
school, but now it was a longer walk and she had to leave earlier, which she
didn't mind. However, in order to get the new flat in order, Indie missed a
week or so from school and was welcomed back by an odd surprise. Her best mate
Jo ignores her when she arrives back at school and has given up her seat to
another girl, Aisha Patel. Aisha wants to be friends with Indigo and Jo, but
Indigo is fuming. How could Jo do such a thing? Well, she did and after that,
Jo and Indigo fight about the most random things and eventually their
friendship ends. Indigo doesn't care though, she has a new friend, a true
friend, Aisha.
Indigo's grade is doing a
play, Oliver, and the main part Oliver has to be shared between Aisha
and Indigo, but they don't care. They become better friends and help each
other memorize their lines. Everything is going fine, mum has a job, and a new
friend who lives in the attic of the house which they live in, and best of all
no Max. That soon changes. One day after school Indigo leaves school a little
late, and there's Max across the street waving. Max goes over and talks to
Indigo and offers her a ride home, she declines, and sets off for home by
herself. Only she isn't by herself, Max is following her in his big blue van,
and she knows it. Indigo tell mum who assures her that everything will be
fine, but its not. One night Max shows up at the flat and demands that mum go
out to dinner with him to talk things out. Mum accepts the invitation, but
never comes home. Near the middle of the night, two police officers show up at
the flat and bring Indigo and Misti to the hospital. Max and mum never made it
to dinner, Max purposely crashed the van in an attempt to kill mum. Max was
put in jail and Indigo never did play Oliver n the play. Indigo's family went
and lived with her grandmother and were given a second chance for a new
beginning.
I really enjoyed this book
because it shows that people need to follow what they believe in and not try
and live in the past. People these days are so insecure about themselves and
their future that they never get, never have an adventure, they find a happy
memory and try and go back and relive it. It will never happen. I'm glad that
Indigo's mum picked up all of their belongings and got up and moved to the
flat from hell, it's better than being abused every night. At least they got a
second chance. I would recommend this book for middle school students. On the
cover of this book it says for ages ten and up. I would not recommend a ten
year old to read this book because there are certain events that take place in
this book that a ten year old would not understand.
~
Ashley Aldan, grade 8,
Boardman Center Middle School