Olive's Ocean by Kevin Henkes
Bibliography:
Henkes, K. Olive's Ocean. Greenwillow Books. (2003).
Summary:
Olive Bartow was not a friend of Martha's. In fact, she was not friends with anyone, a loner in the middle school where Martha attended. It did not make sense that her unexpected death would affect Martha so deeply, and most likely would not have if not for Olivia's mother finding a page from her journal and delivering it to Martha. The page spoke of Olivia's hopes and dreams, including befriending Martha at school. Unsettled by Olivia's thoughts, Martha enters into her family's summer vacation at her grandma's house on the coast with visions of Olivia, comparing her life to that of a girl she never knew, and how she could honor the memory of a girl who longed to see the ocean that she was enjoying now.
Martha's summer is filled with picnics on the beach, meaningful conversations with Godbee, her wise grandmother in whom Martha can confide, the excitement of first love and crash of disappointment when illusion is met with reality, and thoughts of Olivia. Written in accessible language and in a manner that moves the plot ever-forward with Martha through her days on the beach, Olivia's Ocean is a quick but meaningful read, guaranteed to cause the reader to contemplate issues of friendship, love, death, and selflessness.
Thoughts:
Knowing that Olive's Ocean is considered to be a controversial book, I was expecting exposure to intense young adult issues- sex, suicide, depression, etc. What I found was an honest look at an adolescent girl, struggling to make sense of the death of a classmate amidst family drama, the complications of young love, and discovering a hidden passion for her life yet fear to reveal it to anyone, in case her hopes should be dashed. I found myself drawn to Martha, the typical 12 year-old girl who loves her best friend, enjoys a love/hate relationship with her older brother, fights rebellious tendencies toward her parents, and, most of all, wants to be accepted. Martha is real. She is accessible and believable, and the reader wants her to find happiness amidst her turmoil.
The issues dealt with in this book are real-life issues that I feel are dealt with quite appropriately. Rarely are teenagers equipped to deal with the death of a classmate or begin to understand the fact that grandparents will not live forever. Sexual issues are touched on but not explored deeply; a brief reference made by Martha's brother regarding their parents' sex life is the one blatant comment in the entire work. This comment, though unexpected, actually served to make the parents' relationship seem more stable and loving, whereas before they were depicted as tense and struggling. Martha experiences her first kiss in a tricky, deceptive way, and is forced to deal with her own emotions and embarrassment. Her experience serves to remind the adolescent reader that people are not always what they seem, and sometimes experiences with the opposite sex are just that: experiences.
In my opinion, Olive's Ocean is more valuable as a novel than controversial, and allows teenagers the chance to work through issues that they are either going through at present, or those that will be faced in their future.
Reviews:
"As Martha and her family prepare for their annual summer visit to New England, the mother of her deceased classmate comes to their door. Olive Barstow was killed by a car a month earlier, and the woman wants to give Martha a page from her daughter's journal. In this single entry, the 12-year-old learns more about her shy classmate than she ever knew: Olivia also wanted to be a writer; she wanted to see the ocean, just as Martha soon will; she hoped to get to know Martha Boyle, as 'she is the nicest person in my whole entire class.' Martha cannot recall anything specific she ever did to make Olive think this, but she's both touched and awed by their commonalities. She also recognizes that if Olive can die, so can she.... At the Cape, Martha is again reminded that things in her life are changing. She experiences her first kiss, her first betrayal, and the glimmer of a first real boyfriend, and her relationship with Godbee, her elderly grandmother, allows her to examine her intense feelings, aspirations, concerns, and growing awareness of self and others. Rich characterizations move this compelling novel to its satisfying and emotionally authentic conclusion.... Though Martha remains the focus, others around her become equally realized, including Olive, to whom Martha ultimately brings the ocean." -School Library Journal
"More than anything Martha wants to be a writer. The problem is that her father does, too. Is there room for two writers in a single family? This is only one of the many questions that beg to be answered during Martha's twelfth summer. Here are others: Is Godbee, the paternal grandmother whom the family is visiting at Cape Cod, dying? Why is Martha's father so angry? Could Jimmy, the eldest of the five neighboring Manning brothers, be falling in love with her (and vice versa)? And what does all this have to do with Olive, Martha's mysterious classmate, who died after being hit with a car weeks earlier? Olive, who also wanted to be a writer and visit the ocean, and hoped to be Martha's friend. Like Henke's Sun and Spoon (1997), this is another lovely, character-driven novel that explores, with rare subtlety and sensitivity, the changes and perplexities that haunt every child's growing-up process. He brings to his story the same bedrock understanding of the emotional realities of childhood that he regularly displays in his paradigmatically perfect picture books. This isn't big and splashy, but its quiet art and intelligence will stick with readers, bringing them comfort and reassurance as changes inevitably visit their own growing-up years." - Booklist
Ideas for Use:
Olive's Ocean lends itself to great discussion about deeper issues that young adults are just beginning to face- death, the possibility of death, and how that makes us choose to live our lives. As morbid as it sounds, the teacher or librarian using this book could, with its' reading, start discussion about whether or not the students have known anyone who has died or is near death. How does it make them feel? Talk about Martha's own near-death experience, and how it changes her outlook on life. Either discuss or write about how you would live your life if you knew your days were numbered. Of course, before entering into this depth of conversation, let parents know that this issue is coming up, what discussion questions would be used, and how you as the teacher plan to put a positive spin on the issue.
This book would also be a good jump-start for a look at writers and how they go about writing novels. As Martha struggles to find her way as a beginning writer, professional writers most likely had the same experience when they got started. Do brief author studies on how some of our favorite writers got started, and encourage the class to start keeping a journal in which they can write their own stories and thoughts, as well as springboard from assigned prompts. One such assignment could stem from Martha's own page of first-lines. Have students choose one of Martha's first-lines of a poem, and complete the poem on their own. Invite students to share their poems with the class if they wish.
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