Olivia - By Ian Falconer

Olivia is a very popular, fun book written and illustrated by Ian Falconer (Simon & Schuster New York 2000). Olivia is an energetic pig that wears her mother out. When she gets dressed in the morning, she has to try everything on. When it time for nap, she isn't tired and wants to dance. She sees an abstract painting in a museum and thinks that she could do that type of work, so she tries to create one of her own on the wall at home. For this she has to have a time out and a bath. At the end of the story, she negotiates to have 5 stories read to her, but settles on 3. Her mother tells her that she wears her out, but she loves her anyway. Olivia responds that she loves her mother anyway too and goes off to dream about being an opera singer.

This story is fun to read and seems humorous to children and adults. Most children can relate to Olivia in some way. She has personality and dreams big. When she builds a sand castle at the beach, she builds one as big as a sky scrapper. Her mother, of course, can't see this because Olivia has built it behind her.

Olivia is subtly encouraging having dreams and the free expression of art. The book is also showing that a child who has lots of energy and who gets in trouble sometimes, is still very loved.

It is a day in the life of Olivia, a fun loving child that is loved back. The humor, realatibility to children, and the overlying positive themes make this a good choice for children. It received the Caldecott Honor.

The illustrations add a lot to the story and it wouldn't be the same without them. Olivia is almost funny looking, but has so much personality that I quickly forgot about how she looks. The towering sky scrapper sand castle behind her mother is an example of how the illustrations add to the story. Falconer adds humor to the story with the illustrations. When they go to the beach, Olivia turns pink, so her mother knows it is time to go home. This is funny because we normally think of pigs being pink anyway. In this case it was a sign that she had enough sun.

Here is a link to the interview with Ian Falconer: http://media.barnesandnoble.com/?fr_story=4f49230e7d231a88be4bcb2521c249c5b9d0ddf5&rf=bm