From: Steven Engelfried <sengelfried>
Date: Fri, 6 Feb 2004 08:37:51 -0800

It's great to read that so many kids are appreciating "Olive's Ocean," though surprising to me. It's an excellent book and deserves wide readership, which of course the Newbery Honor will help with. But our Mock Newbery Club at my library, grades 5-8, pretty much detested it. "Boring" was the main complaint, and they didn't seem to appreciate any of the rich subtleties of the writing. Those emotion packed moments that I thought were totally involving, like when the girl learns the truth about the bet, didn't mean much to them. This group was mostly boys, but even the girls, who liked "Spitting Image," could not get into "Olive's Ocean" at all. I don't see that as a flaw in the book, and the Newbery Honor is well deserved. Obviously Henkes is trying to reach a different kind of reader than the group I had
(who loved "City of Ember," "Milkweed," and "Despereaux"), and his book will be perfect for the right readers.

- Steven Engelfried, Head of Youth Services
 Beaverton City Library
 12375 SW 5th Street
 Beaverton, OR 97005
 503R6%99
 sengelfried at ci.beaverton.or.us
Received on Fri 06 Feb 2004 10:37:51 AM CST