Sometimes life can change in an instant

Martha Boyle and Olive Barstow could have been friends, but they weren't. Weeks after a tragic accident, all that is left are eerie connections between the two girls, former classmates who both kept the same secret without knowing it. Now, even while on vacation at the ocean, Martha can't stop thinking about Olive. Things only get more complicated when Martha begins to like Jimmy Manning, a neighbor boy she used to despise. What is going on? Can life for Martha be the same ever again?

"With his usual sensitivity and insight, Henkes (The Birthday Room) explores key issues of adolescence, through the observations of aspiring 12-year-old writer Martha Boyle. In the opening scene on an August morning in Madison, Wis., Martha receives a visitor: the mother of her classmate Olive Barstow, who was hit by a car the month before. The woman hands Martha a journal entry, in which Olive describes her own wish to be a writer — and to 'get to know Martha Boyle next year... the nicest person in my whole entire class.' Since Olive kept to herself, these revelations forge an unexpected bond between Martha and this classmate she never knew. The other hope Olive confides in the entry is that she could 'one day... go to a real ocean such as the Atlantic or Pacific.' Martha begins an unwitting pilgrimage of sorts: she strolls with her toddler sister to the corner where Olive died and, when she goes to visit her grandmother, Godbee, on Cape Cod, Martha experiences the ocean for Olive and for herself. In brief chapters, Henkes reveals Martha's discovery of life's fleeting qualities, her deepening bond with Godbee, and her first stirrings of romantic feeling and betrayal. Readers can peer through this brief window into Martha's life and witness a maturation, as she becomes a young woman, appreciates life anew and finds a way to give something back to Olive. Ages 10-up." Publishers Weekly (Starred Review) (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

"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 — and 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.

Now Martha can't stop thinking about Olive. A family summer on Cape Cod should help banish those thoughts; instead, they seep in everywhere.

And 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. What if, what if, what if, what if? The world can change in a minute.

This exquisite "New York Times" bestselling coming-of-age story--a Newbery Honor Book and an ALA Notable Children's Book--is now available in paperback.

Kevin Henkes was awarded the 2005 Caldecott Medal for Kitten's First Full Moon. He is the creator of several picture books featuring his mouse characters, including the #1 New York TimesBestseller Wemberly Worried, the Caldecott Honor Book Owen, and the beloved Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse. Mr. Henkes also writes for older children. His novels include the Newbery Honor Book Olive's Ocean, The Birthday Room, and Sun &Spoon. Kevin Henkes lives with his family in Madison, Wisconsin.

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Kevin Henkes vive en Madison, Wisconsin. La primera luna llena de Gatitaes su trigesimocuarto libro para niÑos; todos fueron publicados por Greenwillow Books. Sus novelas incluyen el libro de Honor Newbery Olive's Ocean. Entre sus libros ilustrados se cuentan el Éxito de librerÍa No. 1 del New York TimesWemberly Worried, el libro de Honor Caldecott Owen, y el apreciado Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse.