A challenged book means a person or a group has tried to remove or limit the readership of a particular book. In 2007, the American Library Association (ALA) named Olive’s Ocean the third most challenged book of the year (“Top 10 Most Challenged Books and Frequently Challenged Books Archive.” American Library Association). According to the ALA, the reason for challenging Henkes’s novel centers on “offensive language” and “sexually explicit” content.

The book contains one curse word. After Vince returns from sailing, Martha tries to gauge what he knows about the kiss, and Vince calls Martha “a shitty mind reader” (157). Vince also uses the word “piss,” and he and Martha occasionally call each other mean names. Vince’s character is also associated with the sexually explicit content in the novel. At Cape Cod, Martha witnesses her parents kissing and smiling one morning. Martha thinks, “If Vince had been around he would have said that his parents were exhibiting MSB. Morning Sex Behavior” (64).

Additionally, after Martha holds hands with Jimmy, she has trouble sleeping. Henkes’s narrator says, “She woke many times throughout the night—her arms prickly and at odd angles, the sheet twisted tightly around her ankles, the pillow on the floor” (130).