Olive’s Ocean
By Kevin Henkes

       Even after the rash of school shootings, the death of a schoolmate still remains an unfathomable tragedy. Thank God. There are still feeling, sensitive children in the world and Caldecott Honor winner (OWEN) Kevin Henkes captures a young girl’s summer of becoming, and coming to terms with death, in the remarkable novel Olive's Ocean.

    Martha Boyle knows that only chance kept her from becoming Olive Barstow’s friend. Now, Olive is dead and Martha is off to her grandmother’s house for the summer to think over the questions of life and death it seems we can’t solve at any age. Godbee, Martha’s grandmother, starts a secret-swapping exchange with the young woman. The granddaughter-grandmother relationship was much appreciated by this reviewer, who lost her own grandmother (who everyone called “Gaga”) this year. Martha’s and Godbee’s exchanges are part of a tapestry that includes first love, self-discovery, little sisters, and even a first poem.

    When Martha learns, through Olive’s journal that Olive’s mother brings to Martha, that Olive wants to be a writer, Martha dreams of taking over the title of writer from her frustrated father. The sense that Martha wants to fulfill Olive’s dreams and help her live on is a touching sentiment and a testament to the sensitivity of children. Why should a child be so concerned over someone she barely knew? The day we forget that, Henkes seems to say to children and adults alike, is the day we lose our sense of wonder at the ocean and become like Olive’s callous object of affection, Jimmy Manning, who epitomizes selfishness. Shy unnoticed Tate Manning, however, saves the species Teenagus Male-us Jerkus.

        Olive's Ocean is a love-and-lost-love letter and an anthem to the quiet and forgotten kids we think we know. As adult John Waverly talks about the girl he calls “Lonely Little Olive Pit,” we feel Martha’s sense of loss at this forgotten, quiet child. “I’m haunted by that girl,” says John Waverly. It’s something Martha’s Godbee might have said. The power of Olive’s life and death lies in the way they touch Martha and make her more fully alive.