Olive's Ocean Quotes

“As she wove in and out of all the people - rushing, talking, eating, laughing; some in clumps, some alone - she realized that no one, no one at all in the airport, or on the entire planet for that matter, knew her thoughts, knew what she was carrying inside her head and heart. And at that very minute, what was inside her head and heart made her feel as though there was no one else in the whole world she would rather be.”
― Kevin Henkes, Olive's Ocean

“Now smile a real smile for me so I know you`re not suffering inside.”
― Kevin Henkes, Olive's Ocean

“What do you do when you are really, really sad?" When you are full of dread, is what she really meant.
Godbee exhaled through her nose, making a whistling sound. "Hmm. When I`m genuinely suffering I try to think of someone worse off than I am. And then, if it happens to be someone I know and I`m feeling particularly saintly, I try to do something nice for him or her.”
― Kevin Henkes, Olive's Ocean

“Home was the same as when Martha had left it, but because *she* had changed, her world seemed slightly different, as though she were seeing everything in sharper focus.”
― Kevin Henkes, Olive's Ocean

“The sky was full - of blue and sun. The ocean reflected it and was flat and glossy like a fancy ballroom floor. To Martha, this was the most beautiful sight, a miracle. The ocean made her feel insignificant and slightly afraid, but in an exhilarating way. Her inclination was not to walk or dance across the water's surface. Nor to swim through it. She wanted to *be* the ocean”
― Kevin Henkes, Olive's Ocean

“You know,” he said, “when you were little and tired like this, I’d throw you over my shoulder and carry you home like a sack of rice. Sometimes I wish you were still that little. I wish I could still do that.” “Da-ad. That is so embarrassing,” is what she said. But sometimes she wished it, too. Sometimes she wished it with all her heart.”
― Kevin Henkes, Olive's Ocean: A Newbery Honor Award Winner

“Martha had come up with the nickname Godbee by accident when she was younger than Lucy. Dorothy Boyle had been referred to as Grandma Boyle or Grandma B, for short, to distinguish her from Martha’s other grandmother, Anne Hubbard. As a toddler, Martha couldn’t pronounce Grandma B correctly, or had misheard it, and had, for as long as she could remember, called her favorite grandmother Godbee. For some reason, it had caught on. Not only with everyone in Martha’s family, but with some of Godbee’s friends and neighbors, too.”
― Kevin Henkes, Olive's Ocean: A Newbery Honor Award Winner

“The glittery feeling. She’d named it because it felt to her as if her skin and everything beneath it briefly became shiny and jumpy and bubbly, as if glitter materialized inside her, then rose quickly through the layers of tissue that comprised her, momentarily sparkling all over the surface of her skin before dissipating into the air. Martha”
― Kevin Henkes, Olive's Ocean: A Newbery Honor Award Winner

“Olive sat right here, thought Martha. Right on this very spot. She got up to leave. She walked over to the garbage. It wasn't really a decision, more an impulse. Among the strained sofa cushions and broken chairs and brittle houseplants and moldy shower curtain, Martha saw a plastic bucket crammed with paintbrushes. She plucked a brush from the middle of the bunch. It was the thinnest one, and longest. It's bristles were stiff and well used.

Instinctively Martha went back to the concrete steps. She knelt down, took a deep breath, and blew at the top step, clearing away the dirt and small debris. Then she opened the little jar of seawater. It smelled fishy. She waited, breathing softly, working at the bristles with her fingers to loosen them. Finally she dipped the brush into the jar of water and wrote Olive's name on the top step. Martha retraced the letters until the jar was empty. She watched intently-the concrete turned dark and then light again as the water evaporated. Olive's name was there one moment, then gone the next, like a flicker in the great scheme of things.

"Good-bye," she whispered.

Martha gently placed the empty jar and the brush into one of the garbage cans as she left.

Good-bye.”
― Kevin Henkes, Olive's Ocean

“Starting is the most difficult part”
― Kevin Henkes, Olive's Ocean

“People she loved. Happy people. Lots of people.”
― Kevin Henkes, Olive's Ocean: A Newbery Honor Award Winner