Olivia
by Ian Falconer

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Book Reviews of Olivia

Book Review: An Energetic, Artistic Miss Piggy En Famille
Summary: 5 Stars

The story takes you through Olivia's favorite activities. She loves to try on and change clothes, put on make-up, be active with her family and pets, and learn about the arts. Olivia clearly benefits from Ian Falconer's background as someone who paints, illustrates, and has done costume and set design for operas and ballet.

Olivia has four primary appeals for me. First, she is hilariously drawn . . . all head and ears with her snout sticking up in the air atop tiny legs and even smaller hind feet with her horizontally striped tights showing. Second, she is a whirling dervish with wonderful drawn sequences of many different illustrations on two page spreads that capture incredible energy and variation. Third, she is absolutely irrepressible . . . the kind of dauntless child that most parents would like to have. Stimulation . . . not a nap . . . is her need. You can imagine her running for president of the United States in a few years on the Fine Arts ticket. Fourth, there is a wonderful connection to fine art here that you can use to interest your child. The book includes reproductions of two paintings (one of dancers by Degas and a "drip" one by Jackson Pollock}, a book about Maria Callas, and references to Olivia painting, dancing, and singing an aria.

If Eloise is the original material girl with confidence, then Olivia is the modern version of the Alcott sisters getting ready to perform on the big stage of life.

Parents will appreciate that this story develops the theme also of how exhausting it can be to be always engaging with your child. This kind of story makes it possible to establish limits based on mutual love and respect, rather than discipline by habit.

After you have finished enjoying the story, I suggest that you ask your child what she or he dreams about. Then find books, paintings, videos, and other reference materials that can stimulate his or her imagination about those subjects of interest. Children, like adults, learn best when focused on something they already like.

Go whole hog with Olivia and have a ball!

Summary of Olivia

• dressing up

• singing songs

• building sand castles

• napping (maybe)

• dancing

• painting on walls

• and -- whew! --

The New Yorker artist Ian Falconer's endearing charcoal portraits of his porcine heroine are spotted with fire-engine red gouache in all the right places--perhaps a tribute to Hilary Knight's red, pink, white, and black celebrations of Olivia's human counterpart? When she dresses up, the bow on her ears, her red lipstick, and her high-heeled shoes are all red. (The only time her shades-of-gray body is pink is when she is sunburned and the area where her bathing suit was is white!) Falconer does a fine job of letting the spare text set up the jokes for the visual punch lines--a dryly humorous interplay that adults will appreciate as much as children.

Preschoolers (and their parents) will see themselves in Olivia--a typical high-energy, over-the-top kid who likes the beach and Degas paintings, but hates naps. On the other hand, she combs her ears and is unusually gifted at sandcastle building. While we are certainly reminded of Eloise, Falconer's portrait is simpler in scope, less demented, and, as a result, less adult. Bottom line: precocious is fun, and we're tickled pink to have Olivia join the parade of, let's just say, individualistic youngsters. (Ages 4 to 8) --Karin Snelson

Pigs Books

• Subjects > Children's Books > Animals > Pigs
• Social Situations > Family Life
• Humor