From School Library Journal
Grade 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 LibraryCopyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From AudioFile
Twelve-year-old Martha Boyle stands on the brink of discovery: about her family, about first love, and mostly about herself. As her family prepares for the annual visit to her paternal grandmother, Martha is given a journal entry from her classmate, Olive, who was killed in an automobile accident. Martha didn't really know Olive, but the journal entry makes Martha reflect on what might have been if Olive hadn't died. In her two weeks on Cape Cod, Martha learns to deal with the changing emotional landscape that comes with adolescence. This quiet, introspective story seems a bit overwhelmed by Blair Brown's strong, deep voice. While she reads with calm assurance, delineating the characters well with inflection and pacing, the overall effect is disappointing. A lighter voice might have provided more sparkle for the carefully crafted language and the depiction of the main character's changing self-awareness so skillfully created by Henkes. S.G. © AudioFile 2004, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine

From Booklist
Gr. 5-8. 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 by a car weeks earlier? Olive, who also wanted to be a writer and visit the ocean, and hoped to be Martha's friend. Like Henkes' 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. Michael Cart
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

School Library Journal (starred review)
"Rich characterizations move this compelling novel to its satisfying and emotionally authentic conclusion."

KLIATT (starred review)
Martha Boyle is one of the memorable 12-year-old girls of fiction, smart, confused, compassionate.

Family Fun Magazine
The ever versatile Kevin Henkes dazzles with this spare yet profoundly touching coming-of-age novel.

Voice of Youth Advocates (VOYA)
Henkes's story is subtle and satisfyingly untidy. Grabs you right from the start.

Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
Few girls will fail to recognize themselves in Martha.

Seattle Times
Lyrically written.

School Library Journal (starred review)
Rich characterizations move this compelling novel to its satisfying and emotionally authentic conclusion.

Florida Times-Union
An eloquent journey into adolescence.

KLIATT (starred review)
"Martha Boyle is one of the memorable 12–year–old girls of fiction, smart, confused, compassionate."

Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"With his usual sensitivity and insight, Henkes explores key issues of adolescence."

Book Description

"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."

Martha Boyle and Olive Barstow could have been friends. But they weren't -- and now all that is left are eerie connections between two girls who were in the same grade at school and who both kept the same secret without knowing it.

Now Martha can't stop thinking about Olive. A family summer on Cape Cod should help banish those thoughts; instead, they seep in everywhere.

And this year Martha's routine at her beloved grandmother's beachside house is complicated by the Manning boys. Jimmy, Tate, Todd, Luke, and Leo. But especially Jimmy. What if, what if, what if, what if? The world can change in a minute.

Card catalog description
On a summer visit to her grandmother's cottage by the ocean, twelve-year-old Martha gains perspective on the death of a classmate, on her relationship with her grandmother, on her feelings for an older boy, and on her plans to be a writer.

About the Author
Kevin Henkes lives in Madison, Wisconsin. His novels include Protecting Marie and Words of Stone. Among his picture books are Owen, a 1994 Caldecott Honor Book; Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse; and Julius, the Baby of the World.In His Own Words..."I remember drawing at a very early age. I loved it. And my parents and teachers told me I was good at it -- that made me love it all the more.""I also loved books, and the ones I was lucky enough to own were reread, looked at over and over, and regarded with great respect. To me great respect' meant that I took them everywhere, and the ones I still own prove it. They're brimming with all the telltale signs of true love: dog-eared pages, fingerprints on my favorite illustrations, my name and address inscribed on both front and back covers in inch-high crayon lettering, and the faint smell of stale peanut butter on the bindings." "I wondered about authors and illustrators back then -- " What did they look like? Where did they live? Did they have families? How old were they? -- but I never imagined that one day I would be one myself.""I became an author-illustrator when I was nineteen years old. I flew from my home in Racine, Wisconsin, to New York City with my portfolio, hoping to find a publisher. And magically enough Susan Hirschman at Greenwillow Books made my dream come true. My first picture book, All Alone, was published in 1987. Since then I've written and illustrated many picture books and written several novels. I like the variety of trying new ways to fill the pages between two covers. Experimenting with words and paint and ink keeps my job interesting." "I used to live with my parents and brothers and sister and work at a card table in my bedroom. Now I live with my wife, my son, and my daughter in our own house and work at a drawing table in my own studio. I never thought I'd be lucky enough to be a real author and illustrator. I wouldn't trade it for anything."

ANNOTATION

A 2004 Newbery Honor Book

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Olive Barstow was in Martha Boyle's class until she was killed by a hit-and-run driver while riding her bicycle. Martha didn't know Olive -- not really. But after Olive's mother gives her a section from Olive's journal, Martha knows they could have been, would have been friends. And now Martha and her family are going to visit Godbee, Martha's grandmother, on Cape Cod for the rest of the summer -- as they do every year. The Boyles descent of Godbee's small house in a flurry of exuberance, mini-crises, diapers, and humor all mixed together. The ocean is still there. And the five Manning boys still live nearby. There is Jimmy Manning with his ever-present video camera. Jimmy Manning, who gives Martha her first kiss. And Tate, who seems to follow Martha with his eyes. And then there is Olive, who had always wanted to see the ocean, and who now haunts Martha's thoughts and dreams.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

With his usual sensitivity and insight, Henkes (The Birthday Room) explores key issues of adolescence, through the observations of aspiring 12-year-old writer Martha Boyle. In the opening scene on an August morning in Madison, Wis., Martha receives a visitor: the mother of her classmate Olive Barstow, who was hit by a car the month before. The woman hands Martha a journal entry, in which Olive describes her own wish to be a writer-and to "get to know Martha Boyle next year... the nicest person in my whole entire class." Since Olive kept to herself, these revelations forge an unexpected bond between Martha and this classmate she never knew. The other hope Olive confides in the entry is that she could "one day... go to a real ocean such as the Atlantic or Pacific." Martha begins an unwitting pilgrimage of sorts: she strolls with her toddler sister to the corner where Olive died and, when she goes to visit her grandmother, Godbee, on Cape Cod, Martha experiences the ocean for Olive and for herself. In brief chapters, Henkes reveals Martha's discovery of life's fleeting qualities, her deepening bond with Godbee, and her first stirrings of romantic feeling and betrayal. Readers can peer through this brief window into Martha's life and witness a maturation, as she becomes a young woman, appreciates life anew and finds a way to give something back to Olive. Ages 10-up. (Aug.) Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Children's Literature

Martha is bothered by the death of a girl, Olive, whom she barely knew. In this story that takes place in about a week, she manages to remember Olive in a way that will let her go on. Martha is also betrayed by a boy into a first kiss, which she parlays into even more strength. Martha is so memorable, as are the other characters in the story￯﾿ﾽHenkes is a master at creating people we know engaged in the business of growing up, in all the shaggy wonder that implies. I think middle school girls will like not being talked down to in Olive's Ocean. They will like the way Martha begins to see boys and first loves, how she deals with the realization that her grandmother is probably sicker than she is letting on, how she observes the way adults and parents lose their tempers and patch things up, and the way she begins to figure what life might be all about￯﾿ﾽto her. A superior growing up/coming-of-age story. 2003, Greenwillow, 0060535431

KLIATT - Claire Rosser

Martha Boyle is one of the memorable 12-year-old girls of fiction, smart, confused, compassionate. I like the fact that she has been created by a male author, who manages to combine poetic images with realistic down-to-earth growing pains. Most of the story takes place within a two-week period when Martha and her family are vacationing on the New England coast at their grandmother's home. Martha has been seared by the accidental death of a classmate, Olive, who no one really liked much. Olive's mother delivers a paper written by Olive to Martha in which Olive wrote that Martha was someone she hoped could be her friend, that Olive wanted to be a writer, that she wanted to see the ocean. So as Martha goes off for the two weeks, she tries to become the writer Olive now has no chance of being and she tries to appreciate the ocean that Olive no longer will be able to see. Martha is close to her elderly grandmother, who encourages her writing. Other important characters are Martha's little toddler sister, her parents, and her older brother. At the beach, a boy next door takes an interest in Martha, who experiences the first pangs of attraction and then humiliation when she finds out the boy is just using her in his filmmaking efforts￯﾿ﾽinterested in her more as a subject for his film than for the person she is. Fortunately, the boy has a brother who restores Martha's faith in herself. Here is a sample passage: "Martha admired her brother, and liked and loved him, too, even as she sometimes was offended by him. He was sarcastic and funny and smart and oddly childlike, and could be counted on to be brutally honest concerning matters of the greatest importance. 'You've got a zit on the back of yourneck that's ready to explode,' he'd once told her. 'Don't wear those shoes in public,' he'd said another time, 'unless you want to look like a complete dork.'" The book is divided into chapters of various lengths that are frequently like prose poems, some a few sentences, some several paragraphs, others four or five pages long, each with the sort of title one might expect in a book of poetry. KLIATT Codes: J*￯﾿ﾽExceptional book, recommended for junior high school students. 2003, HarperCollins, Greenwillow, 217p.,

School Library Journal

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.

AudioFile