Olive's Ocean / Kevin Henkes / 217 pages / October Challenge Banned Books

Perhaps you've read and loved Lily's Purple Purse or Chrysanthemum by Kevin Henkes.  His picture books are must-haves for any well-stocked library.  His novel, Olive's Ocean, however, was banned in 2008 because of objectionable gestures, profanity, and bullying, and (believe it,or not,) because "the story revolves around curses/witchcraft/the occult."   What?!  Did the person/s who challenged this book really read it?  Olive Barstow was hit by a car while riding her bike on Monroe Street in July and killed.  Although she had just moved to Martha Boyle's school around Valentine's Day and Martha didn't really know her, Martha believes they had things in common and might they might have been friends.  Martha's dad is an attorney who had taken time off work to write a novel.  Olive had said in her journal that she wanted to write a novel and go to the ocean.  Martha is going to the ocean to visit her 82 year old grandmother and she, too, wants to write.  Martha and her grandmother share secrets.  Martha suffers embarrassment at the hands of an amateur videographer, Jimmy Manning.  She gives Olive her ocean and learns that the world can change in a minute.