Olive's Ocean

Kevin Henkes is the author of Olive’s Ocean, a 2001 coming-of-age chapter book for young readers. Kevin has written and illustrated several books for children and young readers, including Waiting (1991) and The Year of Billy Miller (2013). Henkes was born in Wisconsin, and this Midwest state is the home of his character Billy Miller, as well as Martha Boyle, the 12-year-old protagonist in Olive’s Ocean. In the novel, Martha grapples with the sudden death of the titular character, Olive Barstow, as she spends the final days of summer at her grandmother’s cottage in Cape Cod. Olive’s Ocean received a Newbery Medal for its contribution to American literature for young people, and the story addresses themes such as Identity and Self-Discovery, Coping With Loss and Death, and Experiencing Change in Adolescence.

This guide refers to a 2003 HarperCollins e-book edition.

Content Warning: The source text and this guide contain depictions of the death of a young person and the nonconsensual recording of a kiss.

Plot Summary

Martha Boyle is 12 years old, and she attends Susan B. Anthony Middle School in Wisconsin. Martha has an older brother, Vince (13 years old), and a younger sister, Lucy (two years old). Her mother, Alice Hubbard, has a radio show for Wisconsin Public Radio, and her father, Dennis Boyle, quit his job as a lawyer so he could write a novel.

The story begins with Olive Barstow’s mother knocking on Martha’s door. Olive was a peer of Martha’s, and she died when a car accidentally hit her while she was bicycling. Olive’s mother brings Martha a page from Olive’s journal. The entry conveys Olive’s admiration for Martha, her dream of becoming a novelist, and her hope of visiting a “real ocean.” As Martha is about to see her grandmother, Godbee, in Cape Cod, she’ll be near the Atlantic Ocean.

Martha doesn’t tell anyone about Olive’s journal entry, but she wonders why Olive called her “so nice.” Martha talks about Olive’s death with her best friend Holly. Martha wishes they had been nicer to Olive. Olive didn’t have any friends, and Holly calls Olive “weird,” and claims that they weren’t “not nice” to her. Like Olive and Dennis, Martha wants to be a writer, but on the airplane from Wisconsin to Cape Cod, all Martha can write is Olive’s name.

In Cape Cod, Dennis decides to return to work, and Vince hangs out with the Manning brothers. There are five of them, and Martha usually feels closest to Tate, who’s 13. Now, Martha is interested in the oldest brother, 14-year-old Jimmy. Inspired by the American-born filmmaker Stanley Kubrick, Jimmy wants to be a famous director, and he’s currently making a movie, The World Is Not What You Think It Is.

In Cape Cod, Martha works on a story about another girl named Olive. Olive is orphaned and is visiting her grandmother. Like Godbee, Olive’s grandmother is frail but caring. After Martha meets Jimmy and develops a crush on him, she creates a character named James, who becomes friends with Olive.

Jimmy shows Martha parts of his movie, which functions as a sardonic commentary on nature and family. For the latter, Jimmy films a fight between his parents. Martha helps Jimmy complete his death section by speaking openly about Olive’s death. Jimmy also wants Martha to help him with his love section. They hold hands, and Martha's feelings for him make it difficult for her to sleep.

In a dilapidated farm property, Jimmy kisses Martha and records it without her consent. Jimmy then tells Martha that he won a bet. Vince and the other Manning brothers went sailing, and Jimmy bet them that he could film himself kissing Martha before they returned. Martha is enraged, and she storms off.

Martha doesn’t know what to do about Jimmy and the videotaped kiss. She concludes that Olive would ignore the incident and gracefully move on, so Martha tries to do the same. She acts cheerful around her family, but she can’t suppress the “little explosions” inside of her. Martha speaks to Godbee, and Godbee says when she’s sad, she thinks of someone in a worse predicament and then tries to do something kind for them.

Lucy is picky, so she’ll only eat banana baby food. Godbee saves the empty jars, filling them with water and food coloring to reflect the respective colors in the daylight. Godbee lets Martha borrow an empty jar, and Martha fills it with water from the Atlantic Ocean. There, she spots Jimmy holding the hand of another girl and disappears into the water. She almost drowns, but she survives. The brush with death makes her realize that the world doesn’t revolve around her, and the humble feeling boosts her spirits.

Before leaving Cape Cod, Martha gets a note from Tate, with Tate stating that he knows what he has to do now. As Martha and her family drive away in the van, Tate stands in the middle of the road. The van stops, and Tate gives Martha a bag containing the videotape. Martha is unsure if she should destroy the tape or keep it.

Back in Wisconsin, Martha finds the home address of Olive’s mother and goes there. It’s a duplex with trash outside. The landlord informs Martha that Olive’s mother moved to Oregon or Washington. Martha goes through the trash, finds a paintbrush, and, using the ocean water, paints Olive’s name on the steps until it’s all gone. She puts the empty jar in the trash, and she returns to her house. Appreciating the safety and familiarity of her house, Martha announces that she’s home.