Spotlight On: Olivetti by Allie Millington
Something that has shaped much of my writing is asking the question, “Who have we never heard a story from before?” There were many reasons why I chose to share a typewriter’s untold side of the story, one of them being because I thought typewriters would naturally have many stories to tell (as they’re full of them).
Countless people across history and across the world have a personal connection or fondness toward these charming, clacking machines — and yet, most kids have never had the opportunity to use one. One hope I have for Olivetti is that it can be a bridge between generations, and create opportunities for readers both young and old to share in the nostalgia and power of passing down memories that typewriters bring just by being themselves.
― Allie Millington, Bookweb
What booksellers are saying about Olivetti
- All About Olivetti! The beautiful cover art belies the beautiful story. Olivetti tells the story of a family missing connections and how they find their way to new, deeper relationships with each other. plus a magical vintage typewriter! What more could you ask for?!
― Susan Williams, M Judson, Booksellers in Greenville, South Carolina | BUY
- I love this sweet, unique book! Young Ernest is shy and dealing with his family’s secrets doesn’t help. When Ernest’s mom drops off the family’s beloved typewriter Olivetti at the pawn shop and then disappears, the whole family is thrown into an emotional whirlwind. Ernest and Olivetti team up to find out where mom is and why she left. This story will steal your heart – I never expected to have such strong feelings about a sentient typewriter!
― Andrea Richardson, Fountain Bookstore in Richmond, Virginia | BUY
- A wholly original and utterly charming middle grade novel that will hit you right in the feels. It’s a got a little bit of a mystery, a family that’s lost its way, and a plucky typewriter who breaks the rules of his kind trying to help.
― Melissa Taylor, E. Shaver, bookseller in Savannah, Georgia | BUY
- I picked this book up for two reasons: the stunning cover and the comp to Jasmine Warga’s A Rover’s Story. No surprise that it was so well done. With a complex familial theme that pulls at your heart strings and an anthropomorphized typewriter that you wanted so badly to befriend, this book had me hooked. It felt like the hug you get from The Vanderbeekers meets the wonder that you experience reading A Rover’s Story.
― Olivia Schaffer, The Bookshelf in Thomasville, Georgia | BUY
- Devoured in one sitting. I don’t know what I expected, but this beautiful book was not it. The kind of hope and heartbreak and love that gets you in the corners of your heart and makes you want to laugh and cry all at once.
― Lauren Brown, The Story Shop, LLC in Monroe, Georgia | BUY
About Allie Millington
Allie Millington first wrote Olivetti on her own antique typewriter, who turned out to have an awful lot to say. She lives near Atlanta, Georgia, with her husband and their fluffy dog. You can find her on Instagram: @alliemillington or online at http://www.alliemillington.com.
Spotlight On: Olivetti by Allie Millington Read More »
Bess Kalb is an Emmy-nominated comedy writer and the bestselling author of Nobody Will Tell You This but Me, a New York Times Editor’s Choice. She wrote for eight years on Jimmy Kimmel Live! and has written for the Emmy Awards, the Academy Awards, and the 2020 Democratic National Convention. She is the head writer and executive producer of the WGA Award-nominated Yearly Departed, and is currently adapting Nobody Will Tell You This but Me into a feature film with Sight Unseen Pictures. She lives with her husband and two boys in Brooklyn. This is her debut picture book.
Erin Kraan is a children’s book illustrator, woodcutter, and printmaker. She loves the process of carving her characters into wood and seeing how their quirky and whimsical identities come to life through the ink in the prints. Erin lives and works in Vancouver, British Columbia.
