Product Description

Funny, true and ingenious, Olivia's legions of fans will not be disappointed with this new story of the funky little pig and her fierce attachment to her favourite toy. Olivia has one toy that she loves more than anything - a stuffed animal that she feeds and dresses and takes everywhere. And when he disappears, Olivia is furious! She shouts at Ian and baby William, but they plead innocence. She screams, she cries, she stomps, but is left without her toy and heartbroken. Then, one dark and stormy night, Olivia hears a noise! Candelabra in hand, she bravely creeps into her bedroom to face a huge menacing shadow on the wall, a piece of her beloved toy in its jaws!

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #332614 in Books
• Published on: 2003-10-06
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 48 pages

About the Author
When not telling Olivia's story Ian Falconer designs sets and costumes for the New York City Ballet, the San Francisco Opera, and the Royal Opera House in London. He lives in New York City.

Customer Reviews

Joy
This book is a joy to read for an adult or child. I challenge you as a parent not to laugh out loud at the behaviours it covers. I bought it for a friend's daughter called Olivia. I think it will be something she'll treasure for a very long time.

an enchanting series
Maybe Im biased, because my daughter's called Olivia, but when I read this book I fell in love. The stories are so typical of the stroppy little madame, that is a toddler girl, and the illustrations are gorgeous and hilarious at the same time! Im going to buy every one of them and guard them with my life, this book is enchanting to say the least, an absolute quality publication!!!!!

Dealing with Childish Obsessions
As a parent, I've always been drawn to children's stories where the child is so silly that it makes my own children realize where they have the same weakness. When that happens, we laugh about the silly person in the story and assure one another that we would never be so silly. Naturally, such a self-drawn lesson is more powerful than one that comes from me.

Every child becomes obsessed about certain things. This book will make good reading for them. Hopefully, they will learn by seeing themselves in the piggish mirror of Olivia.

I was especially attracted to the 12 part cartoon on the end papers of the book that show Olivia using tape to get her favorite bear to sit up. That little wordless story nicely sets the stage for the main event within.

The opening page of the book provided me with enormous chuckles. I could barely stand to leave the page. Olivia is seated on a camel in front of the Sphinx and the Great Pyramid with her toy. The caption is "One day Olivia was riding a camel in Egypt . . ." But it all turns out to be but a dream. When she awakes, her mother reminds he it's time for soccer practice that morning. The red-loving Olivia dislikes that her uniform comes in "a really unattractive green." Olivia asks her mom to make a red soccer shirt instead. Olivia's mom agrees, but Olivia finds waiting to be intolerable so she takes her toy bear out to play with the cat. Finally, the shirt is done . . . but horror of horrors, her toy is missing! She throws a fit and starts looking around. While playing the piano on the dark and stormy night, Olivia hears a noise and searches out the cause while carrying a large candelabrum. She finds her toy has been chew up by the dog, Perry! Her father appeases Olivia by offering to buy her another toy. But in the meantime, she fixed the toy and made it even more humorous than ever. Olivia swears off dog books as a result, but she eventually forgives Perry and lets him back into bed with her.

To me the strength of the story was the Olivia takes the initiative to solve the problem of her missing toy . . . and then doesn't hold a grudge. The message is that things happen, but we shouldn't take them too seriously if we can repair matters. That's a good lesson for us all.

I think this book will be even more amusing for low-key children who don't get easily upset as they see how another child might react.

I love you, Olivia!