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Olivia Forms a Band [Hardcover]

Ian Falconer
4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (46 customer reviews)

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Book Description

June 6, 2006 3 and up Olivia
Everyone's favorite Caldecott Honor-winning porcine diva is back and with fanfare! There are going to be fireworks tonight, and Olivia can hardly wait to hear the band. But when she finds out that there isn't going to be a band, she can't understand why not. How can there be fireworks without a band?! And so Olivia sets to putting a band together herself...all by herself. Using pots, pans, her brother's toys, and even her father's suspenders, Olivia forms a band spectacular enough to startle any audience. Lavishly brought to life in Ian Falconer's signature style, and introducing an eye-catching shade of blue, here is Olivia doing what Olivia does best -- making noise.

Frequently Bought Together

Olivia Forms a Band + Olivia . . . and the Missing Toy + Olivia Saves the Circus
Price for all three: $42.33

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Book Description:
Everyone's favorite Caldecott Honor-winning porcine diva is back and with fanfare! There are going to be fireworks tonight, and Olivia can hardly wait to hear the band. But when she finds out that there isn't going to be a band, she can't understand why not. How can there be fireworks without a band?! And so Olivia sets to putting a band together herself... all by herself. Using pots, pans, her brother's toys, and even her father's suspenders, Olivia forms a band spectacular enough to startle any audience. Lavishly brought to life in Ian Falconer's signature style, and introducing an eye-catching shade of blue, here is Olivia doing what Olivia does best--making noise

Exclusive Art from Ian Falconer's Olivia Forms a Band



Why wasn't this picture included in the book? Here's a look inside the creation of a blockbuster picture book.


There were 60 images selected for Olivia Forms a Band out of over 70 pieces of art submitted by Olivia creator Ian Falconer. Sixty images may sound like a lot, but many pages are filled with multiple depictions of our porcine heroine. For instance, when you look at the page where Olivia is removing Daddy's suspenders, this page has nine separate drawings. On the other hand, the glorious fireworks scenes are all composed of one piece of art per page.


For this particular image of Olivia provided exclusively for Amazon.com customers, Falconer didn't feel like this artwork captured Olivia's true character. However, many people in-house at Simon & Schuster loved the picture and thought it was typical of a 5-year-old playing with her mother's lipstick. While there's a lot to love in this picture, Ian Falconer after all is the man behind Olivia. He knows better than anyone what makes something up to "Olivia standards." Sometimes that is as simple as being able to know which image works best for a particular moment in the book. In this instance Falconer felt the drawings that were used in the final book served the scene better, and with that this one was left on the cutting room floor.


All About Olivia


Teatro Olivia


Olivia... and the Missing Toy

Olivia Saves the Circus

Olivia


From School Library Journal

Starred Review. PreSchool-Grade 3–The latest escapades of a precocious piglet and the mother who attempts to both nurture and civilize her opens on the morning of a fireworks display. The charcoal-and-gouache scenes with their signature red highlights on uncluttered white backgrounds depict Olivia's family, but readers are soon treated to a series of surprises that include the introduction of a new color (turquoise), collage elements, a fold-out, and full bleeds. When the protagonist declares that a band is essential for the evening's entertainment and that, lacking one, she'll fill in, her mother's thought bubble fills with a photograph of a leaping rock band; Olivia's depicts the marching variety. The fold-out starts with the heroine as the sole majorette and reveals a full-size band of Olivias, with the score of a Sousa-like march printed boldly above. Falconer builds to a crescendo of two and a half pages that portray a picnic at sunset followed by a dazzling display of feathery fireworks. These compositions are predominantly charcoal; the family members, backs to readers, are outlined in the reflected yellow glow of an ascending rocket. The palette returns to the original color scheme in the denouement, a bedtime moment to which all ages will relate. With perfectly nuanced dialogue and a mixture of comical and artful scenes, Falconer explores the logic, invention, and humor emanating from a talented youngster, serious about the mission of the moment.–Wendy Lukehart, Washington DC Public Library
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Product Details

  • Age Range: 3 and up
  • Hardcover: 50 pages
  • Publisher: Atheneum Books for Young Readers; First Edition edition (June 6, 2006)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 141692454X
  • ISBN-13: 978-1416924548
  • Product Dimensions: 11.4 x 8.6 x 0.4 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (46 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #98,567 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Ian Falconer is the author and illustrator of all the titles in the bestselling Olivia series: Olivia, Olivia Saves the Circus,Olivia...and the Missing Toy, and Olivia Forms a Band. His illustrations have also graced many covers of the New Yorker. In addition, he has designed sets and costumes for the New York City Ballet, the San Francisco Opera, and the Royal Opera House (Covent Garden), among others. Mr. Falconer lives in New York City.

Customer Reviews

I own all olivia books and i cant wait for the Christmas Book. printbooks intheUSA  |  7 reviewers made a similar statement
The stories and the illustrations are great and very funny. Lynet M  |  5 reviewers made a similar statement
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
15 of 17 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Keeps Getting Better July 11, 2006
Format:Hardcover
Ian Falconer's Olivia series just keeps getting better. It's so refreshing to see a kid's lit franchise where the work deepens over time (okay, the Olivia counting board book, composed of pictures from other Olivia books, was a touch on the crass side, but that's the exception). With the Olivia series, you don't get the sense the author is trying to cash in on a successful book with a series of uncreative knock-offs (I'm looking your way Numeroff, Boynton, Christelow...)

Olivia decides to start a band. She has the idea that her whole family should participate, but their silent reaction- an illustration in which her parent's backs have slightly turned towards Olivia, the pets and infant fleeing- is momentarily crushing. But the charm in the Olivia series is the obstinate irrepressibility of her spirit. She's been told her commotion is like a room full of people, so she figures out that she can be a one person band. We get the classic Falconer spreads with inserted pictures, generous thought bubbles, Olivia picturing a marching band and her mother picturing something a little more hardcore.

I guess if I had to come up with constructive criticism, I might point out the closer, which is a bit of an anticlimax, as Olivia lays in bed picturing herself as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. It's sort of clever, with a picture of Olivia amid photos of the real life justices in all their sinister splendor, sitting proper with the Dick Cheney/Doctor Evil hand-wringing thing going on. But it's clearly a joke just for the parents. The best part of the series is that it is artful and sophisticated enough to entertain parents while being a really fun kid's book as well. I just thought it was a touch of a let down, closing on a pure wink to the parents. The only other problem I had with it was a purely personal one, I can't really hold Mr. Falconer accountable. But there is a picture of Olivia's mother diapering the baby piglet. The baby piglet is lying supine, arms splayed, legs akimbo, and it caused a sudden flashback to the fetal pig I dissected in high school Biology. Kind of overwhelmed me for a moment, but I'm pretty sure that wasn't an intentional reference to my dear lifeless Wilbur. ...or was it?....

Overall, great book. The series continues to improve, there is something magical and yet so spot on real about Olivia and her family. All those details and complementary descriptions of the illustrations from the other reviews, I'll second those as well. I'll continue buying these books as quickly as they are published.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars LOVE THIS LITTLE PIG!! June 13, 2006
By MCT28
Format:Hardcover
Big fan of Ian Falconer's wonderful Olivia. This book is a blast, the story if filled with good humor and insight, and the drawings are once again spectacular. I am always amazed by the facial expressions, more eloquent than any word. Olivia's bigger-than-life personality will not disappoint those who already know her, and captivate all those who read one of her books for the first time. A must have in any library, for kids of all ages.
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8 of 9 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Fabulous addition! June 22, 2006
Format:Hardcover
My now 2 year old daughter has been obsessed with Olivia for about six months now. We've read all of the books dozens of times so when Olivia Forms a Band was released, we made a special trip to the bookstore just to get this book -- and it was worth it. She is even reading Olivia's and Ian's names and a few other short words in the stories now. In this book, she is particularly fond of the pages when Olivia is making all that noise with her band.

Ian Falconer's little piglet never fails to present loads of teaching opportunities for toddlers (when we were reading the first Olivia ad nauseum we had a lot of discussions about what happens when little girls paint on the wall -- "trouble" -- what happens when little girls get in trouble -- "time out," that mama still loves the little girl even if she gets in trouble, where little girls are supposed to paint -- "paper," etc.; similarly my daughter has learned forgiveness, that doggies don't always understand the rules, etc., from Missing Toy, and that there are times for make believe and times when we have to tell the truth from Olivia Saves the Circus. She also has developed an interest in playing the piano because Olivia plays the piano). This book carries on that grand tradition. Olivia wants her family to be in a band with her for the fireworks, but no one wants to join her. She does not let that deter her, but decides to make her own one-pig band. She borrows and collects all sorts of noise makers and is very creative in choosing her instruments and putting the band together by herself. She also is clever in how she collects the instruments she needs. Instead of just grabbing the toys from her brothers, she trades them other things they want and remembers to say, "thank you." We have had a lot of talks about sharing, trading and "please" and "thank you" that this book helps to reinforce.

Since I have to read these books every night (sometimes we read ALL of them every night for a week or so), I appreciate the humor that is aimed at adults, and this book is no exception to Mr. Falconer's wry humor. I particularly enjoy Olivia's search for a matching red sock among the sea of red socks already on her bedroom floor. I also love Mr. Falconer's ability to understand and portray the mind of a small child. For example, Olivia, having made her band and played with it for a bit, is completely done with the band (except putting it away, that is) by the time the family is leaving for the fireworks -- even though that was the reason she wanted the band in the first place.

The pictures are spectacular, particularly the sunset at the beach and the fireworks, and my daughter and I both can enjoy these stories. This new Olivia story does not disappoint in the least and is a pure blessing for a mom that has been reading about Olivia every night for months on end.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars Olivia Forms a Band by McKenna S.
Olivia Forms a Band is about a pig named Olivia. In the beginning Olivia could not find her other red sock, but a few minutes later she finds the other red sock. Read more
Published 1 month ago
5.0 out of 5 stars Cutest Olivia book ever!!
This book makes my four year old daughter laugh and laugh. We love reading the Olivia books together but this is our absolute favorite!
Published 1 month ago by Nursing student
5.0 out of 5 stars Book is almost like new with a few fold corners.
The story line as usual is witty and I collect all of Ian Falconer's Olivia. She is one of the kind.
Published 3 months ago by Alice
5.0 out of 5 stars My Daughter's new Favorite
My 2 year old daughter loves all of her Olivia books. It might have something to do with the fact that her little brother's name is Ian too:) In this book Olivia is excited about... Read more
Published 7 months ago by CAAI
3.0 out of 5 stars Not as good as the original but some fun moments
I'm not sure how we missed Olivia but we recently discovered the Christmas book and then Olivia, the original book, and we've kept going. The original book is the best. Read more
Published 13 months ago by Ahhling
3.0 out of 5 stars Cute
This was another lukewarm Olivia story for me. I love the premise and as usual I love to see Olivia take charge of putting her plans into action but the whole thing ultimately ends... Read more
Published on March 20, 2011 by Acacia
1.0 out of 5 stars Ian fire your publisher
What a joke. Why should I pay $10 for a book that is sold for $7 in paperback. If the snooks in the Olivia series were $4. Read more
Published on January 3, 2011 by C. Hill
3.0 out of 5 stars Olivia's Band Falls Flat
The only element keeping this book from two stars is the fact that we dig the pig. Olivia's great, and we love her. This book, though, just misses the mark. The story doesn't flow. Read more
Published on November 18, 2010 by MelanieC
5.0 out of 5 stars We just love Olivia!
We own a few of the Olivia books and love them all. The books are colorful and the drawings are interesting. Not only does my daughter love them but we love them also!!
Published on January 17, 2010 by Heidi
3.0 out of 5 stars Not as good as the Original
While I love this little pig, this book does not flow nearly as well as the original Olivia, and did not hold my interest as much. It seems somewhat disconnected. Read more
Published on December 3, 2009 by Ann E. Marsh-senic
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