A review by erine
Olive's Ocean by Kevin Henkes

4.0

I thought this was a well told story. Martha experiences many things that other characters do - first love, irritating siblings, a cranky dad, the first classmate who passes away - but they come together in a somehow new way. I enjoyed the way she came to terms with Olive's death and brought her mother the jar of ocean. She wasn't even put out by the fact the mother had moved, she just continued on with her catharsis. And I was also swept up in the budding romance between Martha and Jimmy. The betrayal should have been obvious, but it wasn't.
While the story follows Martha and does involve some 'girl-focused' problems, the story itself and its themes should have a wide appeal. It does have an old-fashioned tone to it, that I can't quite describe, and the topic of the death of a classmate might need to be the subject of some discussion, but this would be a lovely read for middle schoolers.
One of the Amazon reviewers mentioned excessive swearing and sexual innuendo, but I didn't pick up much on that.