Olive

Gr 9 Up–In reaction to overwhelming days at school and unkindness from fellow students, Olive constantly retreats within herself to visit a comfortable imaginary world she has created. This safe haven contains her friends, a whale and a duck, and is relaxing and regulating until an astronaut appears without having been created by Olive. She is convinced that he is the same astronaut who has gone missing after a doomed voyage and that she can find him using the psychic connection they share. With the help of her new roommate, Olive sets out on an adventure to rescue the man, and to find out exactly what it is that connects them. This is a truly stunning graphic novel with a complicated story that develops Olive into a courageous young heroine embarking on a nontraditional hero’s journey. The relationship between Olive and her roommate, Charlie, while tense at first, grows slowly but surely into a heartwarming friendship. The art is gorgeous, particularly once the journey begins. Olive has brown skin and dark hair, Charlie is white.