Martin Marten

December 1, 2015

On the slopes of Mt. Hood, OR, a young marten goes from birth to adolescence quickly, while Dave at 14 slowly becomes a young man. Sections of the novel alternate between the marten's and the human's lives. The wild animal is not anthropomorphized, although he is called Martin by the author. He is a fascinating creature of the woods whose survival becomes important as readers learn about him and his family. Dave and his younger sister, Maria, are treasured by their hardworking parents, who live a quiet, simple life in the isolated area. When Dave's father loses his job, Dave seeks employment at the local general store. There, he works for the unusual young owner, a woman who does not accept the idea of marriage. Her story and that of her suitor are cleverly introduced into the plot, and teens will learn to care about them. Gradually, more beautifully portrayed and eccentric characters enter the narrative. At the same time, the marten is becoming fully grown and looking for a mate and Dave is shyly running with a special, athletic girl in his new high school. Maria, Dave's sister, deserves a novel of her own. As a first grader, she wants to apply for fourth grade and sees no reason why students should stay in their designated class. There is adventure, near tragedy, and romance in this luminous novel. The descriptions of the woods will inspire any city dweller to go on a hike. VERDICT Teens will want to read about the lives of Dave and his friends and be introduced to the fast, clever Martin.-Karlan Sick, Library Consultant, New York City

Copyright 2015 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

April 1, 2015
Set on Oregon's Mt. Hood, this is two stories in one: the first is that of a 14-year-old boy named Dave, who is growing up in the hamlet of Zig Zag; the second is of a marten named, well, Martin, who, like Dave, is coming of age. Needless to say, their separate lives will ultimately mix and mingle, for both, Doyle would say, are animals existing in the same habitat. That habitat, the natural world that is the setting for this often-lovely novel, is a central part of the two protagonists' lives, and Doyle does a beautiful job of evoking their world. The lives he limns in the process are fairly ordinary: Dave is a nice kid who becomes a runner and has a part-time job at the general store. Martin is the more remarkable simply because his life is the more foreign to readers. Both characters, though, are a pleasure to get to know. If the book has a fault, it may be its occasionally self-consciously showy style and its sometimes twee voice. Nevertheless, it is a beautiful example of nature writing that will appeal to fans of that genre.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)

November 1, 2014

Published by an academic press, the luminously written Mink River was a dead giveaway that Doyle had a big literary future ahead of him, and he proved himself nicely with last year's The Plover. His new novel again enfolds nature, offering the parallel coming-of-age tales of 14-year-old Dave and furry little Martin, who is (yes) a marten, a woodlands mammal related to minks. Even as Dave enters high school and starts wondering what life will be like when he eventually leaves the family cabin on Mount Hood, Martin knows that soon it will be time to leave his mother and siblings behind.

Copyright 2014 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from March 15, 2015
"And he is only one of a million, no, a "billion" stories you could tell about the living beings on "just this side of the mountain"," says Doyle ("Mink River") in his lovely new book. He's talking about a marten--and not even Martin Marten of the title, a nicely burnished golden brown creature who helps his sister at birth, gets lessons in survival from his sure-footed mother, observes the fate of his wayward brothers, and eventually goes out on his own, even as he and a boy named Dave circle each other in friendly fashion. Like Martin, Dave lives on Oregon's Mount Hood, which he calls by its Native American name, Wy'east, and though he's not quite ready to separate from his family, as Martin does by instinct, he "is" growing up: heading to high school, where he will be a track star, and getting a job to help his family. There are crises large and small--a child lost in the woods, Martin's surprise fight with that one-in-a-billion-stories-marten--but this telling of at least some of Wy'east's tales flows along absorbingly, avoiding sentiment while imparting a quiet acceptance of the rhythms of the natural and human worlds. VERDICT Highly recommended; even city slickers can love. [See Prepub Alert, 10/13/14.]--Barbara Hoffert, "Library Journal"

Copyright 2015 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.