Olive's Ocean
by Kevin Henkes

Why You Will Like This Book

Olive's Ocean is a Newbery award winner about one girl's journey towards adulthood. Olive's Ocean by Kevin Henkes is a wonderful story told with so much insight into a 12-year old girl's world. It is amazing to me that a male author could 'get it so right!'

Mr. Henkes illustrates in his Newbery Honor chapter book that unpleasant, hurtful, humiliating things can happen to a person, but one can choose his or her own response to these things. ; for ages 10 and up

Synopsis

"Martha Boyle and Olive Barstow could have been friends, but they weren't. Weeks after a tragic accident all that is left are eerie connections between the two girls who were former classmates keeping an identical secret without the other's knowledge.--a 2004 Newbery Award winner"

Description

This is a very poignant chapter book story told from 12-year-old Martha Boyle's point of view as she shares her feelings-- exasperation with her parents and older brother, frustration with her younger sister and humiliation at being betrayed by a first boyfriend. Her relationship with her grandmother provides a loving anchor for Martha. This is a story about relationships, of growing-up, and of self-discovery.

The haunting question mark that is always on Martha's mind is why schoolmate Olive wrote in her diary that she was the kindest girl in class.