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Narrated by Blair Brown
Kevin HenkesUnabridged — 3 hours, 24 minutes
Narrated by Blair Brown
Kevin HenkesUnabridged — 3 hours, 24 minutes
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A brilliant, touching coming-of-age story, and a Newbery Honor Book.
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, former classmates who both kept the same secret without knowing it.
Now, even while on vacation at the ocean, Martha can't stop thinking about Olive. Things only get more complicated when Martha begins to like Jimmy Manning, a neighbor boy she used to despise. What is going on? Can life for Martha be the same ever again?
Multiple award-winning and New York Times bestselling author Kevin Henkes brings his insightful, gentle, real-world insight to middle grade novels, including:
A journal entry of a classmate killed in an accident sends 12-year-old Martha on an unintended pilgrimage. In our Best Books citation, PW wrote, "Readers witness Martha's maturation as she appreciates life anew and finds a way to give something back to Olive." Ages 10-up. (May) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.
Gr 5-8-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: Olive also wanted to be a writer; she wanted to see the ocean, just as Martha soon will; and 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, so can anybody, a realization later intensified when Martha herself nearly drowns. 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. Language is carefully formed, sometimes staccato, sometimes eloquent, and always evocative to create an almost breathtaking pace. Though Martha remains the focus, others around her become equally realized, including Olive, to whom Martha ultimately brings the ocean.-Maria B. Salvadore, formerly at District of Columbia Public Library Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.
On her family's Cape Cod vacation, Martha is haunted by a journal entry left by a dead classmate. Olive, an unremarkable loner, hoped to have Martha ("the nicest girl in the class") as a friend. This summer 12-year-old Martha is noticing her grandmother's aging, experiencing adolescent alienation from her affectionate family, and feeling the self-consciousness of yearning for her neighbor Jimmy. Jimmy, 14 and an aspiring filmmaker, surprises Martha with his attentions, inquires whether she has ever been kissed, and asks to film her for his video. Their kiss captured on film, as it turns out, is the result of a wager. Well-plotted, the working out of Martha's feelings of humiliation, her renewed connection to family, and her final gesture towards the dead Olive are effected with originality and grace. Henkes's characters never lack for the inner resilience that comes from a grounding in the ultimate decency of family. Characters and setting are painted in with the deft strokes of an experienced artist. Few girls will fail to recognize themselves in Martha. (Fiction. 10-13)
The ever versatile Kevin Henkes dazzles with this spare yet profoundly touching coming-of-age novel.” — Family Fun Magazine
“An eloquent journey into adolescence.” — Florida Times-Union
“Few girls will fail to recognize themselves in Martha.” — Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
“Martha Boyle is one of the memorable 12–year–old girls of fiction, smart, confused, compassionate.” — KLIATT (starred review)
“With his usual sensitivity and insight, Henkes explores key issues of adolescence.” — Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“Lyrically written.” — Seattle Times
“Rich characterizations move this compelling novel to its satisfying and emotionally authentic conclusion.” — School Library Journal (starred review)
“Henkes’s story is subtle and satisfyingly untidy. Grabs you right from the start.” — Voice of Youth Advocates (VOYA)
“With beautifully defined characters, events, and emotions that will tug at your heart, this novel is flawless.” — Daily Item
An eloquent journey into adolescence.
The ever versatile Kevin Henkes dazzles with this spare yet profoundly touching coming-of-age novel.
Henkes’s story is subtle and satisfyingly untidy. Grabs you right from the start.
With beautifully defined characters, events, and emotions that will tug at your heart, this novel is flawless.
Martha Boyle is one of the memorable 12–year–old girls of fiction, smart, confused, compassionate.
Lyrically written.
| BN ID: | 2940170066605 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | HarperCollins Publishers |
| Publication date: | 01/18/2005 |
| Edition description: | Unabridged |
| Age Range: | 8 - 11 Years |
Olive's Ocean
Copyright © 2003 Kevin Henkes
All right reserved.
ISBN: 9780060535445
A Beginning
"Are you Martha Boyle?"
Martha nodded.
"You don't know me," said the woman at the door. "Olive Barstow was my daughter. I was her mother."
Martha heard herself gasp. A small, barely audible gasp.
"I don't know how well you knew Olive," said the woman. "She was so shy." The woman reached into the pocket of the odd smock she was wearing and retrieved a folded piece of paper. "But I found this in her journal, and I think she'd want you to have it."
The rusted screen that separated them gave the woman a gauzy appearance. Martha cracked open the door to receive the pink rectangle.
"That's all," the woman said, already stepping oV the stoop. "And thank you. Thank you, Martha Boyle."
The woman mounted a very old bicycle and pedaled away, her long, sleek braid hanging behind her like a tail.
Breathing deeply to quiet her heart, Martha remained by the door thinking about Olive Barstow, unable for the moment to unfold the paper and read it.
Chapter Two
An End
Olive Barstow was dead. She'd been hit by a car on Monroe Street while riding her bicycle. Weeks ago. That was about all Martha knew.
A sad image of Olive rose in Martha's mind: a quiet, unremarkable girl, a loner withaverted eyes, clinging to the lockers when walking down the hallways at school.
The image that Xashed next was imagined and worse: Olive Xying through the air, after impact, like a bird, then scraping along the pavement and lying in a heap at the curbside, never to move again.
Continues...
Excerpted from Olive's Ocean by Kevin Henkes Copyright © 2003 by Kevin Henkes. Excerpted by permission.
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