Olivia . . . and the Missing Toy

Starred review from September 1, 2003
The porcine star who burst onto the children's books stage in black and white—plus her favorite color, red—is back! Here Falconer adds green to his palette and mystery to the plot for this third adventure featuring the incomparable Olivia. However, "green is not Olivia's color." So she entreats her mother to make a red soccer jersey to replace her team's green one. "But then you'll look different from everyone else on the team," says her mother. "That's the point," retorts the heroine in an oversize font. While her mother sews, Olivia's beloved green-and-red toy (who makes a comical cameo appearance in a wordless vignette on the endpapers) disappears with the turn of a page. (A clue appears in the lower right-hand corner of the illustration, where the toy is last seen.) It won't give away the fun to say that Perry—the spotted, panting pooch introduced in Olivia and who bears a certain resemblance to the sidekicks in the "Madame Olivia and her Trained Dogs" act in Olivia Saves the Circus—plays a bigger role in this episode. Once again Falconer nails common three-year-old parlance and posture. As Olivia shouts, "Where's my toy? It was right there on the bed. I just put it there. I remember exactly. That's my best toy. I need it!" the audience assumes the viewpoint of her mother, staring down into the protagonist's gaping mouth. Though it hardly seems possible, Falconer's visual and verbal narrative talents continue to grow. And so will Olivia's devotees. Ages 3-7.

October 1, 2003
K-Gr 3-Olivia is back, the indomitable individualist now coaxing her mother to make her a new soccer uniform in red, not the "really unattractive green" of the rest of the team. During the sewing session, Olivia's stuffed animal disappears and the fearless piglet must solve the mystery. She eventually tracks it down, but it is now in pieces, courtesy of the dog. Olivia's tears are surprisingly easily diverted by her father's glib promise from behind the newspaper to replace it with "the very best toy in the whole world," but the independent protagonist resews it herself and even improves on the original. Once again, the illustrations are stylish and witty, now extended by the addition of green to Falconer's trademark charcoal-and-gouache black, white, and red palette. The inclusion of photographic reproductions (the sphinx in a dream and Martha Graham on the bedroom wall) adds a nice contrast, and the endpapers show a comic strip of the little pig trying to get her toy to sit up. The changes in the size of the typeface to indicate volume of speech as Olivia interrogates her little brothers, and as her distress escalates, are hilarious. But the plot meanders a little, and it seems as though Falconer is letting style overtake story. Olivia is in danger of starting to appear more like a bratty bully than the charming nonconformist we know and love. Still, her many fans will enjoy this latest adventure of the piglet turned detective.-Jane Barrer, Washington Square Village Creative Steps, NY

Copyright 2003 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from September 1, 2003
PreS-Gr.1. " Olivia" (2001), the first book about the little piglet, was heavy on charm and light on story. The second, " Olivia Saves the Circus "(2002), went a bit overboard with its story of this every child's exaggerating. This book gets everything right; the story is simple yet compelling, and Falconer's art is as imaginative and inventive as ever. When the story begins, Olivia is mostly concerned with her soccer uniform. It's green, and she doesn't like it. Mother works on making a new one in Olivia's signature red, but by the time she's finished, Olivia's attention is focused elsewhere: her toy kitty is missing. Olivia looks everywhere, and she fiercely interrogates her brothers. It's only after the lights go out during a dark and stormy night that she finds the real culprit. A marvelous foldout reveals the "monster" that captured her "best toy." As the most successful picture books do, this works on several levels: it's great for young listeners, who will respond to the action and the art, and for adults, who will smile with recognition at lively Olivia.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2003, American Library Association.)

January 1, 2004
In the third book starring the precocious piglet, Olivia loses her favorite stuffed toy and discovers, in a mock-horrific climax on "a dark and stormy night," that the dog has chewed it to pieces. Falconer pads the slender plot with some more of Olivia's characteristic mugging. The drawing is superb; green accents in the pictures here give young viewers something to scout for amidst Olivia's signature red and black.

(Copyright 2004 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)