From: Brian, Jen, Megan, & Ethan <Brewcheese>
Date: Sat, 7 Feb 2004 16:51:59 -0600

I was beginning to wonder if someone had shipped our school's Mock Newbery Group some top-secret, alternate version of Olive's Ocean. So many glowing reviews, mostly from adults, with some giving their students' opinions. I was getting scared to post. Finally Steven Engelfried shared his students' opinions, and they mirrored ours.

Our group of twelve 6-8 graders read a total of 17 books for our Mock Newbery. After an initial discussion each student chose their top 3 books. Not a single vote was cast for Olive's Ocean. When discussing why Olive's Ocean received no votes, the students simply couldn't get beyond the fact that it was incredibly boring. One student even asked, "What actually happened in the story? Anything?" I tried to lead the discussion towards why the author would choose to include certain details or events - was there a symbolic reason or a theme running through the story - but they didn't want to spend more time discussing a book they so quickly eliminated from consideration.

Interestingly, in contrast to Steven's group, ours was mostly girls. We had only 2 boys. Going into the discussion I thought Olive was the sort of book that would appeal to many of our girls.

Everything that has been said about how well crafted the story is, its many layers, the themes - the list goes on - is true, and Olive's Ocean should be appreciated for all those things. Unfortuneately, based on my students' response, I don't see it as a book I will be quick to recommend in the future.

Brian Wilhorn The ILS Literature Group & Newbery Committee Immanuel Lutheran School Wisconsin Rapids, WI www.tznet.com/bookswi
Received on Sat 07 Feb 2004 04:51:59 PM CST