Olives Ocean

The story revolves around a 12-year-old girl named Martha Boyle, who is given a page of a journal that belonged to Olive Barstow, a classmate who recently died in a car accident. Reading the entry, she learns Olive wished to be her friend and also dreamed of seeing the ocean. This leads Martha on a personal journey as she begins to explore her feelings about life, death, and the power of dreams. The book also discusses Martha's summer on Cape Cod and her interactions with the Manning boys, particularly Jimmy, which further complicates her feelings and thoughts. Olive Barstow was dead. She'd been hit by a car on Monroe Street while riding her bicycle weeks ago. That was about all Martha knew. Martha Boyle and Olive Barstow could have been friends, but they weren't. Now all that is left are eerie connections between two girls who were in the same grade at school and who both kept the same secret without knowing it. Martha can't stop thinking about Olive. A family summer on Cape Cod should help banish those thoughts; instead, they seep in everywhere. This year, Martha's routine at her beloved grandmother's beachside house is complicated by the Manning boys. Jimmy, Tate, Todd, Luke, and Leo. But especially Jimmy. The world can change in a minute.