From: Sheila A Welch <sheilawelch>
Date: Sat, 7 Feb 2004 22:15:38 -0600

Hello Ginny,

Thanks for adding such a thought-provoking post about Olive's Ocean! You made an excellent point about how Henkes has been fortunate to have a publisher and editors who've been supportive and nurturing. I read his first novel, and while it showed promise, he's come a long way in the development of his talents.

I attended one of your two?y workshops a while ago and still remember how much fun it was!

My writers' critique group in Freeport, IL, has been passing around my copy of Olive's Ocean. We all agree that we'd love to have Kevin Henkes come and talk to our group. I'm sure he's incredibly busy and in great demand, and I'm wondering if he does many programs/appearances. Do you happen to know? I've thought about writing to him through his publisher but thought maybe you know him and could give me some idea of what he's interested in doing. Freeport is only a bit over an hour from Madison.

Thanks again for your comments! Sheila


On Thu, 05 Feb 2004 15:52:36 00 "Ginny Moore Kruse"
  writes:
?Olive?s Ocean? is a novel young readers can enjoy for its story and characters. It?s also a work of fiction within which readers can discover and create additional meanings. Everything is there ? below the surface not to fool readers who miss the other dimensions, or to make them feel ignorant. To me this novel offers considerable depth (groaner pun) to enjoy whenever one brings additional personal life experience to it in the future. When we read, we each complete a book in our minds. In my reading of "Olive's Ocean," I've noticed more than one reference to flames, to orange colors, and to Martha herself who is "aflame, burning up inside." There's a passing of the proverbial torch (writing). When I thought about it I remembered that the root of Lucy's name refers to Light.

I've enjoyed discovering multiple images of the creativity in "Olive's Ocean" - the creation of a sand castle and the ruining of one; the false creativity of a staged videotape and the creative life Martha begins to understand as a young writer. Martha's sister "hatches" like a turtle in the sand. Martha almost drowns; later she evolves an understanding that she's part of the world, rather than the center, as she once was and Lucy now is. There's the on-going-ness of all creation most obviously through seeds, and the traditional promise of a rainbow. Martha becomes aware of how mortality is part of creation through the experience of Olive's accidental death at so young an age and because of her grandmother's understandings about death and life.

Throughout the novel Martha witnesses or experiences several expressions of affection. Some are genuine and others are the opposite: the kiss
"comment" in the school corridor; the staged kiss for the videotape; affectionate kisses to Lucy; Martha's parents' affection for each other; grandma's kissing of the card Martha created when she was younger; and perhaps most important to the story - her dad's kiss of blessing on top of Martha's head after she confides her intention to write. Other confidences, interview, and confessions are interwoven within "Olive's Ocean," too: night time confidences between Martha and her older brother; conversations between Martha and her grandma; false confiding for the videotape; Martha's mother's extraction of confidences as she interviews guests & subjects; and, of course, what Olive wrote.

I've admired Kevin Henkes as a writer for a long time. The words in his picture books are carefully selected. The texts of even his board books demonstrate a sophisticated understanding of his characters, narrative pace, the importance of reiteration, and the sound of the text. He's continued to mature as a writer of longer fiction. "Words of Stone" is brilliant and lasting. Like Sheila, I've always appreciated "Protecting Marie." This author's continuing evolution as a writer certainly is because of the gifts and insights he brings to his writing. This evolution is also due to his good fortune in having Susan Hirschman as his first and long-time editor. She understood in 1980 that this talented young man had the capacity and the tenacity to develop beyond where he was when he began. Because of Susan, and now also because of Virginia Duncan, Kevin had time to develop as a writer of many kinds of texts and as a picture book artist. He received sound counsel and publisher support while he continued to grow into his gifts. Possibly one could make a case for each of his books being direct descendants of the first, "All Alone," a picture book which is - to employ words others have used here recently
- intimate and interior.

I wasn't able to observe the ALA/ALSC "Notable Children's Books" at the time that committee discussed "Olive's Ocean." The ALA/YALSA "Best Books for Young Adults" Committee chose "Olive's Ocean" as one of the best books of 2004, and I missed that discussion, too. Perhaps members of those committees can tell us what was said at each of those meetings. Members of the Newbery Committee can each speak for themselves, as Eliza wrote a couple of weeks ago, but not for that committee; it meets behind closed doors - and for good reason, too, because then discussions can be longer and less self-conscious than those conducted in open meetings.

If you've had a chance to read "Olive's Ocean," how did you complete it in your own mind? What are some other thoughts about this Newbery Honor Book?

Cheers, Ginny


 
  
 
 
 
 

Ginny Moore Kruse gmkruse at education.wisc.edu
Received on Sat 07 Feb 2004 10:15:38 PM CST