Title: Olive's Ocean
Author: Kevin Henkes
Illustrator: (cover) Cleo Sullivan
Grade Level Equivalent: 4.8
Lexile Measure: 680L
Genre: Children's Literature
Subgenre: Realistic Fiction
Theme: Life is short. Treat others kindly while you have the chance.
Primary and Secondary Characters: Martha, Godbee, Vince, Jimmy Manning, Tate Manning, Lucy, Martha's mother and father
Awards: Newbery Medal (Nominated, 2004)
Virginia Reader's Choice Awards (Nominated, 2006) Bluegrass Award (Nominated, 2005)
North Carolina Children's Book Award (Nominated, 2005)
Young Reader's Choice Award (Nominated, 2006)
American Library Association Notable Books for Children (Won, 2004)
Garden State Teen Book Award (Nominated, 2006)
Los Angeles Times Book Prizes (Nominated, 2003)
Dorothy Canfield Fisher Children's Book Award (Nominated, 2005)
Publishers Weekly Best Children's Books (Won, 2003)
Charlie May Simon Children's Book Award (Nominated, 2006)
Bluebonnet Award (Nominated, 2006)
Nene Award (Nominated, 2005)
Burr/Worzalla Award (Nominated, 2004)
Date of Publication: 2003
Publisher: HarperCollinsISBN: 0060535431
Olive’s Ocean tells the story of Martha, a girl who finds out that a classmate of hers that she had never really known has passed away in an accident. It isn’t until after Olive’s death that Martha realizes how much they had in common and that they could have been really good friends if Martha had ever taken the initiative to get to know Olive. Martha is disconcerted by the realization that she and Olive had the same hopes of being a writer, Olive had always wanted to see the ocean—something Martha got to do every summer when she went to visit her grandmother, Godbee—and that Olive had really wanted to be Martha’s friend. Martha sits on this quietly, thinking it over throughout the summer. It is during this time that Martha evolves from the kid she was into the more grown-up, mature version of herself. She realizes that she has feelings for Jimmy Manning, a boy who lives down the street from Godbee. Jimmy tells Martha that he likes her and they hold hands while walking on the beach. He tells her that he needs her help filming his movie that he has been working on. When they get to the place where the film is to be shot, Jimmy kisses Martha—her first kiss from a boy ever—and then loudly exclaims that he got the shot and explains to Martha that the kiss had been a bet with his brothers to see if he could do it and get it on tape. Crushed, Martha runs back to Godbee’s house and thinks about all the things that have happened to change her over the summer. When she asks Godbee for some advice on what she should do when she is sad, Godbee tells her to think of someone who is worse off than she is and try to do something nice for that person. This gets Martha to think about Olive and how she had always wanted to see the ocean but never got the chance. With a bottle in hand, Martha decides to bring the ocean to Olive’s mother—Olive’s Ocean—so that she will have a piece of it. When Martha gets back home, she looks up Olive’s mother’s address and heads over to give her the ocean. When she arrives, she discovers that in grief, Olive’s mother has moved away.
This book would be great for students to read in a literature circle. It does have some light profanity, so it would have to be used for mature students. The topic at hand is very deep and meaningful so it is something that students could read and discuss and get a lot out of. Dealing with the death of a classmate (or loved one, as not all students have had to deal with the death of a peer) and getting your heart broken is something that all students can relate to, especially at the pre-teen age. Martha goes through a transformation of sorts and this can correlate to what students at the pre-teen age are going through on a personal level.
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