Olive's Ocean

( 99 )

Pick Up in Store

Reserve and pick up in 60 minutes at your local store

Paperback (Reprint)
$6.78
BN.com price
$6.99 List Price (Save 3%)
Marketplace (New and Used)
from
$0.01
$6.99 List Price (Save 100%)
All (108)  
Used (84)  
New (24)  
Close
Sort by
Page 1 of 11
Showing 1 – 10 of 108 (11 pages)
$0.01
(Save 100%)
Seller since 2006

Feedback rating:

(50880)

Condition:

New — never opened or used in original packaging.

Like New — packaging may have been opened. A "Like New" item is suitable to give as a gift.

Very Good — may have minor signs of wear on packaging but item works perfectly and has no damage.

Good — item is in good condition but packaging may have signs of shelf wear/aging or torn packaging. All specific defects should be noted in the Comments section associated with each item.

Acceptable — item is in working order but may show signs of wear such as scratches or torn packaging. All specific defects should be noted in the Comments section associated with each item.

Used — An item that has been opened and may show signs of wear. All specific defects should be noted in the Comments section associated with each item.

Refurbished — A used item that has been renewed or updated and verified to be in proper working condition. Not necessarily completed by the original manufacturer.

Acceptable
Shows definite wear, and perhaps considerable marking on inside. 100% Money Back Guarantee. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy!

Ships from: Mishawaka, IN

Usually ships in 1-2 business days

  • Canadian
  • International
  • Standard, 48 States
  • Standard (AK, HI)
  • Express, 48 States
  • Express (AK, HI)
$0.01
(Save 100%)
Seller since 2009

Feedback rating:

(22563)

Condition: Good
Giving great service since 2004: Buy from the Best! 4,000,000 items shipped to delighted customers. We have 1,000,000 unique items ready to ship! Find your Great Buy today!

Ships from: Lakewood, WA

Usually ships in 1-2 business days

  • Canadian
  • International
  • Standard, 48 States
  • Standard (AK, HI)
  • Express, 48 States
  • Express (AK, HI)
$0.01
(Save 100%)
Seller since 2009

Feedback rating:

(22563)

Condition: Very Good
Giving great service since 2004: Buy from the Best! 4,000,000 items shipped to delighted customers. We have 1,000,000 unique items ready to ship! Find your Great Buy today!

Ships from: Lakewood, WA

Usually ships in 1-2 business days

  • Canadian
  • International
  • Standard, 48 States
  • Standard (AK, HI)
  • Express, 48 States
  • Express (AK, HI)
$0.01
(Save 100%)
Seller since 2009

Feedback rating:

(22563)

Condition: Good
Giving great service since 2004: Buy from the Best! 4,000,000 items shipped to delighted customers. We have 1,000,000 unique items ready to ship! Find your Great Buy today!

Ships from: Lakewood, WA

Usually ships in 1-2 business days

  • Canadian
  • International
  • Standard, 48 States
  • Standard (AK, HI)
  • Express, 48 States
  • Express (AK, HI)
$0.01
(Save 100%)
Seller since 2009

Feedback rating:

(22563)

Condition: Good
Giving great service since 2004: Buy from the Best! 4,000,000 items shipped to delighted customers. We have 1,000,000 unique items ready to ship! Find your Great Buy today!

Ships from: Lakewood, WA

Usually ships in 1-2 business days

  • Canadian
  • International
  • Standard, 48 States
  • Standard (AK, HI)
  • Express, 48 States
  • Express (AK, HI)
$0.01
(Save 100%)
Seller since 2009

Feedback rating:

(22563)

Condition: Good
Giving great service since 2004: Buy from the Best! 4,000,000 items shipped to delighted customers. We have 1,000,000 unique items ready to ship! Find your Great Buy today!

Ships from: Lakewood, WA

Usually ships in 1-2 business days

  • Canadian
  • International
  • Standard, 48 States
  • Standard (AK, HI)
  • Express, 48 States
  • Express (AK, HI)
$0.01
(Save 100%)
Seller since 2009

Feedback rating:

(22563)

Condition: Good
Giving great service since 2004: Buy from the Best! 4,000,000 items shipped to delighted customers. We have 1,000,000 unique items ready to ship! Find your Great Buy today!

Ships from: Lakewood, WA

Usually ships in 1-2 business days

  • Canadian
  • International
  • Standard, 48 States
  • Standard (AK, HI)
  • Express, 48 States
  • Express (AK, HI)
$0.01
(Save 100%)
Seller since 2009

Feedback rating:

(22563)

Condition: Good
Giving great service since 2004: Buy from the Best! 4,000,000 items shipped to delighted customers. We have 1,000,000 unique items ready to ship! Find your Great Buy today!

Ships from: Lakewood, WA

Usually ships in 1-2 business days

  • Canadian
  • International
  • Standard, 48 States
  • Standard (AK, HI)
  • Express, 48 States
  • Express (AK, HI)
$0.01
(Save 100%)
Seller since 2009

Feedback rating:

(664)

Condition: Good
Good book, great price! We ship daily via USPS. Buy with the best! BN

Ships from: Lakewood, WA

Usually ships in 1-2 business days

  • International
  • Standard, 48 States
  • Standard (AK, HI)
  • Express, 48 States
  • Express (AK, HI)
$0.01
(Save 100%)
Seller since 2009

Feedback rating:

(18248)

Condition: Good
Buy from the best: 4,000,000 items shipped to delighted customers. We have 1,000,000 unique items ready to ship today!

Ships from: Lakewood, WA

Usually ships in 1-2 business days

  • Canadian
  • International
  • Standard, 48 States
  • Standard (AK, HI)
  • Express, 48 States
  • Express (AK, HI)
Page 1 of 11
Showing 1 – 10 of 108 (11 pages)
Close
Sort by

Overview

Sometimes life can change in an instant

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?

A 2004 Newbery Honor Book

...
See more details below
Note: Kids' Club Eligible. See More Details.
Sending request ...

Overview

Sometimes life can change in an instant

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?

A 2004 Newbery Honor Book

Editorial Reviews

Seattle Times
“Lyrically written.”
Daily Item
“With beautifully defined characters, events, and emotions that will tug at your heart, this novel is flawless.”
Family Fun Magazine
“The ever versatile Kevin Henkes dazzles with this spare yet profoundly touching coming-of-age novel.”
Florida Times-Union
“An eloquent journey into adolescence.”
Voice of Youth Advocates (VOYA)
“Henkes’s story is subtle and satisfyingly untidy. Grabs you right from the start.”
Publishers Weekly
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.
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—Henkes 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—to her. A superior growing up/coming-of-age story. 2003, Greenwillow, <%ISBN%>0060535431
KLIATT
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—interested 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*—Exceptional book, recommended for junior high school students. 2003, HarperCollins, Greenwillow, 217p.,
— Claire Rosser
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.
Kirkus Reviews
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)

Product Details

  • ISBN-13: 9780060535452
  • Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
  • Publication date: 4/26/2005
  • Edition description: Reprint
  • Pages: 224
  • Sales rank: 62,959
  • Age range: 9 - 12 Years
  • Lexile: 0680L (what's this?)
  • Series: HarperClassics
  • Product dimensions: 5.12 (w) x 7.62 (h) x 0.56 (d)

Meet the Author

Kevin Henkes
Kevin Henkes

Kevin Henkes is the author and illustrator of many books for children of all ages—among them are Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse, Chrysanthemum, and Wemberly Worried. He was awarded the Caldecott Medal for Kitten's First Full Moon, a Caldecott Honor for Owen, and a Newbery Honor for Olive's Ocean. He lives with his family in Madison, Wisconsin.

Biography

Kevin Henkes still owns some of his favorite books from childhood. "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 lettering, and the faint smell of stale peanut butter on the bindings," he says in an interview on his web site.

Back in his peanut-butter sandwich days, Henkes dreamed of becoming an artist. By high school, he had combined his love of drawing with a newfound interest in writing, and at age 19, he took his portfolio to New York City in hopes of finding a publisher. Young Henkes returned home from his weeklong trip with a contract from Greenwillow Books, and he's worked as a children's writer and illustrator ever since.

Henkes's style has evolved over the years to include more humor, more whimsy and a lot more mice. Though he began illustrating his picture books with realistic drawings of children, he's since developed a recurring cast of mouse characters rendered in a more cartoon-like style -- though with a range of expressions that make the spirited Lilly, anxious Wemberly, fearless Sheila Rae and sensitive Chrysanthemum into highly believable heroines. Owen, the story of a little mouse who isn't ready to give up his tattered security blanket, won a Caldecott Honor Medal for its winsome watercolor-and-ink illustrations.

Many of Henkes's mouse books deal with such common childhood ordeals as starting school, being teased and getting lost. Chrysanthemum, about a mouse whose new schoolmates tease her about her name, was inspired by Henkes's own feelings when he started school. "The book is about family, and how starting something new and going out into the world can be very hard," he told an interviewer for The Five Owls. "I remember going to kindergarten -- my grandfather had a beautiful rose garden, and he gave me the last roses of the season to bring to the kindergarten teacher the next day. I don't even remember how it happened, but an older kid took these flowers from me on the playground, and I remember coming home, feeling awful." As a grown-up, Henkes is able to translate difficult childhood transitions into stories that are both honest and reassuring. In a review of Chrysanthemum, Kirkus Reviews noted: "Henkes's language and humor are impeccably fresh, his cozy illustrations sensitive and funny, his little asides to adults an unobtrusive delight."

Henkes has also written novels for older children, in which he "explores family relationships with breathtaking tenderness" (Publisher's Weekly). In The Birthday Room, for example, a twelve-year-old boy learns the reason for his mother's long estrangement from her brother, and helps effect a reconciliation. "Refreshingly, Henkes has given us a male protagonist who is reflective, creative and emotionally sensitive," wrote Karen Leggett in The New York Times Book Review. "Ben feels the anguish of his mother's long-simmering bitterness and his uncle's agonizing guilt. Yet at a time when it is almost a fad to blame dysfunctional families for problems, we learn that even though there are never simple answers and not many fairy-tale endings, families can heal."

Though his novels are more complex and serious than his picture books, all Henkes's works suggest an author with deep empathy for the intense emotions of childhood. As a Publisher's Weekly reviewer wrote, "Behind each book is a wide-open heart, one readers can't help but respond to, that makes all of Henkes's books of special value to children."

Good To Know

Henkes's wife, Laura Dronzek, is also an artist. She painted the cover illustration for Henkes' novel Sun and Spoon and illustrated his picture book Oh!.

Henkes has turned down requests to use his mouse characters in a television series, but some of his books are available in video form in Chrysanthemum and More Kevin Henkes Stories. The video's narrators include Meryl Streep, Sarah Jessica Parker and Mary Beth Hurt.

Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse has been adapted into a stage play.

    1. Hometown:
      Madison, Wisconsin
    1. Date of Birth:
      November 27, 1960
    2. Place of Birth:
      Racine, Wisconsin
    1. Education:
      University of Wisconsin, Madison
    2. Website:

Read an Excerpt

Olive's Ocean
By Kevin Henkes Greenwillow Books

Copyright © 2003 Kevin Henkes
All right reserved.

ISBN: 9780060535445



Chapter One

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.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

Reading Group Guide

Olive's Ocean


By Kevin Henkes

About the Book: Olive Barstow had been in Martha Boyle's class…until she was killed by a hit-and-run driver while riding her bicycle. Then Martha finds out that Olive, a girl she never really knew, wrote in her journal about wanting to be friends with Martha, and wanting to be a writer. Martha can't quit thinking about Olive, even when she goes with her family on vacation to the ocean, to stay with her grandmother. In the midst of experiencing first love, loneliness, embarrassment, and fears of her beloved grandmother growing old, Martha allows Olive's death to teach her lessons about living.

Discussion Questions:

  1. When Olive's mother gave Martha Olive's journal entry, Martha is startled by the coincidences in the two girls' lives. What are those coincidences, and how do they affect Martha?
  2. Godbee plays an important role in Martha's life, and Martha feels safe with her, able to tell her secrets she would never tell anyone else. For example, "I want to be a writer" (pg. 56); and "I think I like Jimmy Manning" (pg. 83). What character traits does Godbee possess that enabled Martha to be so honest with her?
  3. On page 81, Godbee tells Martha about a short story she once wrote, about a girl who moved from the ocean to a new home far inland. Does the story of the girl give an insight into Godbee herself, as she thinks about her own mortality?
  4. On pages 86-87, Martha thinks about her most embarrassing moment. But later, when she discovers that Jimmy made a bet that he could get her to kiss him on video, she ismortified. Which do you think is worse? Why?
  5. After the incident with the videotape, Martha "became intensely aware of her separateness to the whole world" (p. 132). If she is separate, why is she so distraught over Jimmy's betrayal? Why do you think she is so angry with Vince, who had very little to do with Jimmy's plan to kiss her on tape?
  6. Martha decides that she will "pretend the kiss and the tape were meaningless…Like Olive, she would quietly proceed with her life" (p. 133). Can she do this? How does she decide to handle the situation?
  7. After Martha falls into the ocean and almost drowns, she begins to understand that the world does not revolve around her and that it would continue to exist without her (p. 165). How does this affect the decisions she makes and the rest of her vacation at Godbee's house?
  8. Mr. Henkes uses foreshadowing throughout the book to build tension. When Tate writes Martha a note that reads, "I think I know what to do" (p. 172), readers are left anxiously waiting to find out what Tate will do. Do you think Tate came up with a good plan? Do you think Martha feels better afterwards? Why?
  9. Mr. Henkes uses Martha's dream (p. 185) and her grandmother's dream (pp. 150-151) to move the story forward. How do these dreams relate to their lives? What effect do the dreams have on the decisions they make?
  10. When Martha gets the videotape from Tate, she realizes that "what was inside her head and heart made her feel as thought there was no one else in the whole world she would rather be" (pp. 199-200). Why is she so happy about who she is?
  11. After returning home, Martha tries to take Olive's ocean to her mother. As she sits on Olive's front porch, Martha thinks, "If I met you now, I would be your friend, Olive" (p. 216). What events in Martha's life brought her to that discovery? Why did Martha personally bring Olive's Ocean to her home?
  12. Olive wanted to be Martha's friend but never told her. When Olive died, though, Martha became, in many ways, a close friend. Martha's actions are the actions taken by a true friend. Discuss the irony of this situation.
  13. Early in the book, Martha writes Olive's name on the curb at the site of her accident (p. 15). At the end, Martha writes her name in ocean water on the steps of Olive's home (p. 216). How are the two instances different? Does Martha feel differently about Olive? About life?


About the Author: Kevin Henkes became an author-illustrator at the age of nineteen. He flew from his home in Racine, Wisconsin, to New York City with his portfolio, hoping to find a publisher. Susan Hirschman at Greenwillow Books made his dream come true, and his first picture book All Alone, was published in 1981. Since then Kevin Henkes has published twenty-five picture books and eight novels for older readers. When asked, he says, "I never thought I'd be lucky enough to be a real author and illustrator. I wouldn't trade it for anything."

Kevin Henkes is the author and illustrator of the Caldecott Honor Book Owen, the ABBY Award Winner Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse, and the New York Times #1 Bestseller Wemberly Worried.

The seed for Kevin Henkes's books always begins with the character, and he wants his characters to be believable. When asked about writing a novel, Kevin says "I can delve much deeper into a character's psyche…I can deal with subject matter that is more complex than the subject matter of my picture books. But because I'm a visual person, I do have very strong images in my head as I work. I love describing my characters and their environments. Setting a scene -- providing proper lighting, the colors and textures of things, sounds -- is one of my favorite things about writing a novel."

Reading Group Guide by Susan Geye, Library Media Specialist, Crowley, Texas.

Customer Reviews

Average Rating 4.5
( 99 )

Rating Distribution

5 Star

(60)

4 Star

(31)

3 Star

(5)

2 Star

(2)

1 Star

(1)

Your Rating:

Your Name: Create a Pen Name or Leave Anonymously

Barnes & Noble.com Review Rules

Our reader reviews allow you to share your comments on titles you liked, or didn't, with others. By submitting an online review, you are representing to Barnes & Noble.com that all information contained in your review is original and accurate in all respects, and that the submission of such content by you and the posting of such content by Barnes & Noble.com does not and will not violate the rights of any third party. Please follow the rules below to help ensure that your review can be posted.

Reviews by Our Customers Under the Age of 13

We highly value and respect everyone's opinion concerning the titles we offer. However, we cannot allow persons under the age of 13 to have accounts at BN.com or to post customer reviews. Please see our Terms of Use for more details.

What to exclude from your review:

Please do not write about reviews, commentary, or information posted on the product page. If you see any errors in the information on the product page, please send us an email.

Reviews should not contain any of the following:

  • - HTML tags, profanity, obscenities, vulgarities, or comments that defame anyone
  • - Time-sensitive information such as tour dates, signings, lectures, etc.
  • - Single-word reviews. Other people will read your review to discover why you liked or didn't like the title. Be descriptive.
  • - Comments focusing on the author or that may ruin the ending for others
  • - Phone numbers, addresses, URLs
  • - Pricing and availability information or alternative ordering information
  • - Advertisements or commercial solicitation

Reminder:

  • - By submitting a review, you grant to Barnes & Noble.com and its sublicensees the royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable right and license to use the review in accordance with the Barnes & Noble.com Terms of Use.
  • - Barnes & Noble.com reserves the right not to post any review -- particularly those that do not follow the terms and conditions of these Rules. Barnes & Noble.com also reserves the right to remove any review at any time without notice.
  • - See Terms of Use for other conditions and disclaimers.
Search for Products You'd Like to Recommend

Recommend other products that relate to your review. Just search for them below and share!

Create a Pen Name

Your Pen Name is your unique identiy on BN.com. It will appear on the reviews you write and other website activities. Your Pen Name cannot be edited, changed or deleted once submitted.

Your Pen Name can be any combination of alphanumeric characters (plus - and _), and must be at least two characters long.

Continue Anonymously

We're sorry, but penname is already taken.

Please select one of the following:
Your Pen Name can be any combination of alphanumeric characters (plus - and _), and must be at least two characters long.

Continue Anonymously

penname is available!

By visiting the BN.com website or marking a purchase on BN.com, a User is deemed to have accepted the Terms of Use.

Continue Anonymously

Welcome, penname

You have successfully created your Pen Name. Start enjoying the benefits of the BN.com Community today.

See All Sort by: Showing 1 – 20 of 99 Customer Reviews
  • Posted July 30, 2009

    more from this reviewer

    I Also Recommend:

    this is the best book ever

    this book inspired me in soooooooooooo many ways

    1 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

    Was this review helpful? Yes  No   Report this review
  • Posted April 10, 2009

    more from this reviewer

    I Also Recommend:

    olives ocean!

    I loved this book and now it is one of my new favorites! even though you never get to talk to olive, it fells like you know her as much as the main charecter, martha. it is a sweet book and i think it should be made into a movie!

    1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

    Was this review helpful? Yes  No   Report this review
  • Posted April 24, 2011

    A must read!

    I loved this book. I'm 11years old. I think kids in 4th or 5th grade will love it. It really shows how a girl will feel with all going on in her life. Even some of the feelings were same as how i would've felt. Again, i thought this book was great!!!! You must read it!!!i also really hope that we can read this book at school with my friends. it makes you think a lot!

    A MUST READ IS RIGHT HERE!!!

    Was this review helpful? Yes  No   Report this review
  • Posted October 1, 2010

    Awesome Book

    Olive's Ocean is a realistic fiction book. It is written by the author, Kevin Henkes. This book is a great book. I hope you will learn enough so that u will want to read it.

    Olive's Ocean tells the story of a 13 year old girl named, Martha Boyle. Martha is struggling with the fact that a girl she never really knew but saw at school, was riding her bike when a car hit her and killed her on Monroe Street. The girls name was Olive Barstow.

    Things really took a turn when Martha and her family went on vacation at the ocean. Then Martha starts to like Jimmy Manning, a neighbor boy she used to despise. Martha starts to get mixed feelings but, the whole time she can't stop thinking about Olive Barstow. While at the beach to visit her aunt and uncle, Martha hangs out at the Manning's house a lot and gets to know Jimmy and Tate Manning. Martha's family is very loving at all times.

    During these tough and confusing times Martha, gets the time to find her true self. Kevin Henkes does a fantastic job in writing this book. Henkes involves all the characters well. Henkes also does a great job of describing the characters personality. I have and will continue to tell everyone about this book because if anyone is looking for a good book to read they should try Olive's Ocean.

    Was this review helpful? Yes  No   Report this review
  • Posted October 1, 2010

    The Best BOOK Ever

    OLIVE'S OCEAN ; Kevin Henkes
    Martha boyle and Olive Barstow were class mates.They could have been friends but they weren't.
    One day Martha's door bell rang it was Olive's mother with a journal page in her hand.Olive's mother said
    Olives died in a car wreck. I found something I think you should have this.It was a journal page Martha
    Opened the sheet of paper and begin to read it the note said ( I wish I could get to know Martha Boyle).After that Martha begin to get up set because was so young to die and Martha really didn't know
    Olive at all.But thaid at their in the same class together Martha father walked in the room and said who was that Martha just no one.
    Martha thought about it all that day but she know she had to pack to go her grandmother's for the summer she was a little bit happer because of that.She walked up stairs and begin to pack some of her things.The next day Martha got in the car begin to travel.Hours went by final she got there.Her grandpa said that every day that she is there is has to tell something about her.
    If you won't to know more you will have to read it .I read this book 2 times and I never got sick of this book.i would recommend this book this is one of the best books I ever read.This book is for all ages .

    Was this review helpful? Yes  No   Report this review
  • Posted August 31, 2010

    awesome!! totally recommend it!!

    i had to choose a book for school, and said why not choose this? i LOVE it! The day i bought it is the day a finished it! i absolutely LOVE the cover and how it feels. i recommend you buy it.

    Was this review helpful? Yes  No   Report this review
  • Posted July 1, 2010

    I Also Recommend:

    Its a really good read, but it's hard to find the Theme

    Its a really great book and I can see why Kevin Henkes won the medal-thingie on the front of the book. All the characters are believeable, and you can make them out in your mind (even Olive Barthstrow getting hit by a car) by all the detail. Although, even though the theme is stated right on the backcover, it was kinda hard to figure out the theme of Olive's Ocean. I mean, you can see why they called it this if you read the whole book, but you have to really think, to figure out the theme.

    Was this review helpful? Yes  No   Report this review
  • Posted March 23, 2010

    Read Book for School

    I read this book for my seventh grade language arts class, and was very dissapointed. This book has very flat, immature, characters with little personality. The writing itself is so-so, and the plot is very easily predictable. It wasn't a challenge for me, and was boring. I do not reccomend this book.

    Was this review helpful? Yes  No   Report this review
  • Anonymous

    Posted January 25, 2010

    I Also Recommend:

    Great Read!

    I enjoyed reading this book. I had a hard time putting this book down.

    Was this review helpful? Yes  No   Report this review
  • Posted August 22, 2009

    more from this reviewer

    I Also Recommend:

    Really Good Book for School and/or Fun Reading

    I bought this book for my grandson to read as an assigned summer reading book. He did not think he was going to like it from the title. He thought it would be about dumb girl stuff. He read it in a very short span of time during the last few weeks of summer vacation and said he really liked it. From what I heard from him, it was a really good book!!

    Was this review helpful? Yes  No   Report this review
  • Anonymous

    Posted February 12, 2009

    Really good!

    i really liked this book, i thought that the plot was very suspenseful, i definitely recommend this book.

    Was this review helpful? Yes  No   Report this review
  • Posted January 21, 2009

    more from this reviewer

    Worth a read

    One day at the Library in school I grabbed this book off the shelf, without thinking about it. I had to read after I was finished with my test, and I was just staring at the book, pretending to read it. The teacher knew this and told me to read it. I started reading it and I really liked it.

    I would not really recommend this book to everyone... It has to take someone who is into drama and can sit and read a book seriously. It gets more exciting halfway in too.

    Was this review helpful? Yes  No   Report this review
  • Posted December 2, 2008

    Olives Ocean IB

    I loved Olive¿s Ocean. I thought it was a very good book. It is one of my favorite books. It is the best book in the world. I would recommend this book to girls who are in middle school. I recommend this to them because I think it is a very appropriate book for people that age. I liked it because it was a very detailed book and it was descriptive witch made it very interesting. Also it kind of had a romantic thing going on in the middleish, end part of the book. It was really good. Also the book was kind of sad because of what happened to Olive. It made me upset when she told, what had happened to Olive. I felt bad for Martha because she was never friends with Olive, but she could not stop thinking about Olive. But still overall it was very go even if it was sad. I think that is what made the book so much better is because; it had so many different things in it. Such as romance, sympathy, and humor. I would defiantly read this book it is amazing.

    Was this review helpful? Yes  No   Report this review
  • Posted October 15, 2008

    I Also Recommend:

    Olive's Ocean an absorbing read

    Olive's Ocean was an entertaining read that began with a tragedy. There was an interesting ending that was perfect. This was a book you didn't want to put down. It was a really easy read but it kept you absorbed. This is a book you would want to read over again. Great Book.

    Was this review helpful? Yes  No   Report this review
  • Anonymous

    Posted June 11, 2008

    Olive's Ocean Amazing

    This book really has what might happen. It show what some people do to get what they want. It show how much cawincedentes show up in life. It makes you think that anything can happen at any given moment. It shows how two girlsw who were so much alike could have became friends. This book Olive's Ocean is a pleasure to read and I hope you enjoy it too.

    Was this review helpful? Yes  No   Report this review
  • Anonymous

    Posted May 28, 2008

    Olive's Ocean

    This book was good. Also you would love it if you love oceans. This book is a sad book but with a romantic twist at the end. Kevin Henkes really makes you feel like you were there and experiencing it. I would recommend it to everyone!

    Was this review helpful? Yes  No   Report this review
  • Anonymous

    Posted July 12, 2008

    eh...what?

    I find no plot in this book. Not very well written. Not much of a plot.

    0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

    Was this review helpful? Yes  No   Report this review
  • Anonymous

    Posted May 22, 2008

    Excellent Book

    I would rate Olives Ocean a four, because its really good and I think that if you are into beach stuff, I think that you would love it. Lastly, It was really good because it was intersting, and very good, plus, it had good detail, and explained everything easy.

    Was this review helpful? Yes  No   Report this review
  • Anonymous

    Posted May 13, 2008

    best book ever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    i could not put this book down it was so good every page went on making me want to read more so i did and i finished it as soon as possible it was the best book ever i loved this book.

    Was this review helpful? Yes  No   Report this review
  • Anonymous

    Posted April 23, 2008

    Olive's Ocean is Outstanding!!!

    Olive's Ocean was a really good read. I am an avid reader and I came across this looking at the covers/titles of books. I asked my librarian if she liked it and she said yes. So i read it... i was finished in about two days!!! It was SO GOOD. I would recommend to ANYONE!!! 'I loved the romantic twist @ the end.' READ IT READ IT READ IT!!!!!! The cahpters are short, 'I liked that!!!' but meaningful. Awesome book.

    Was this review helpful? Yes  No   Report this review
See All Sort by: Showing 1 – 20 of 99 Customer Reviews

If you find inappropriate content, please report it to Barnes & Noble
Why is this product inappropriate?
Comments (optional)
500 character limit