Customer Reviews

Olivia . . . and the Missing Toy

5 star:		(32)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

I was a big defender of Olivia when she first came out. Though she's been criticized as being yet another New York based picture book character that only the trendiest of parents enjoy, I really loved both "Olivia" and its sequel "Olivia Saves the Circus". Both books show an imaginative gutsy heroine with just the right combination of verve and oomph. Unfortunately, it appears that success has gone to Olivia's piggy little head. In her third offering, "Olivia...and the Missing Toy", she's gone from whimsically precocious to spoiled, demanding, and greedy. This is not the Olivia I grew to love. This is not the Olivia I want to read about.

In "The Missing Toy", Olivia is not happy. Her soccer uniform comes, "in a really unattractive green". Never mind that the particular shade of the uniform is the same green that appears throughout the story in toys, books, and sofas. She insists that her mother make her, by hand, a new red soccer uniform so that she'll stand out. Ignoring the question of, "what kind of mother makes a new soccer uniform for her child just because the kid wants it?", her mom does but instead of a thank you Olivia demands to know the current location of her favorite toy. It was near her very recently and now it has left. After interrogating all available brothers and searching the house, Olivia discovers the furry culprit with a very chewed up toy. She wails a little in the presence of her parents and her father promises her a new toy the next day. Hugging him Olivia proclaims that, "I love you more than anyone" (to the frowning still unthanked disapproval of her mother). You might expect that at this point Olivia would then turn to her mother and thank her for making her such a nice new uniform. Maybe she'd be apologetic for failing to do so earlier and ask, very politely this time, if her mother would sew up her toy. Not so much. One of the last shots we have of Olivia is her carrying four large books for bed demanding, "Only books about cats tonight, Mommy".

It looks as if Falconer has attempted to make his little heroine charmingly individual in her tastes and styles. Instead, it's comes off as a story about a spoiled kid who gets what she wants (even when it's a bad idea) and wins in the end. The illustrations are, as always, beautiful. It's the story that needs work. A LOT of work. It's all well and good to want to be unique. But if you're on a team, particularly a sport-like team, you should learn how to help others and work with them. Olivia doesn't seem particularly interested in anyone but herself and getting what she wants (like new toys from her somewhat absent but free with the cash father). That's the moral of the story as I read it, anyway.

Having defended "Olivia" to a vast number of people, it's seems a pity that this third book should disappoint me like this. If Falconer is planning on any additional Olivia-like outings in the future, he should probably avoid making his heroine so self-absorbed. I'm a fan of what Olivia is capable of. I am not a fan of what she has become.

Olivia stories are written and drawn with all the stops pulled - Ian Falconer is now successful enough not to worry about agreed standards of children's writing and not to make allowances for those who fancy the predictable.

The plot line and the dialogue have the raw vitality that may surprise - and even, as we see from reviews, disappoint - some who expect a book to be more straight-forwardly didactic.

Yes, Olivia seems not to appreciate mum's effort in making her a new shirt and rewards dad instead by saying she loves him most - because he promises a trip to Piglet's World or whatever the name of the purveyors of piggy toys may be. YES, this is not a commendable behaviour - yet you know you've done that yourself. I know I have - not proud of it, but it's part of my childhood.

"But isn't the book supposed to tell a child it's wrong?", you may ask. Well, it could, but it does not necessarily have to. The child has parents who can I am sure confidently rely on their own judgment and discuss it with the child if and then they see it appropriate. I am delighted the political correctness and resulting blandness does not affect every book and some writers are confident enough in us readers to perhaps allow us to have some independent input.

This Olivia book is drawn as beautifully as any in the series. The bits where Olivia looks for the toy around the house with a candle-stick in her hand betrays Falconer's theatrical background in a delightfully tongue-in-cheek manner.

When I bought the first Olivia book I thought to myself; "I want to get every book by Ian Falconer". Several Olivias later, I still feel the same way.

I'm a huge fan of Olivia and was thrilled to browse through this book and then pick up a copy for my nephew. It wasn't until I read it to my husband that I realized what a terrible story this is.

This is a story about a selfish little girl who doesn't take the time to acknowledge her mother's handmade soccer shirt, yet proclaims her father to be the best person in the world when he gives her the promise of the purchase of the best toy ever.

I love Olivia and parts of this book were so, well, Olivia! But I just don't feel the book presents the kind of message I would want my nephew...or my own children...to hear and think is okay.

I returned the book very sad indeed.

I was so looking forward to the third Olivia book, but it seems that this is a series that has fallen victim to a rushed publication date. Olivia...and the Missing Toy needs more work to be up to par with the first two in the series. Not only are there questionable themes in the plot, but there are several dropped story lines within. It's a weak read.

That said, my 2 year old still loves the book. She has requested a reading 27 times in the last few days (luckily, it's a holiday weekend and many willing family members are about!). The illustrations are still wonderful, but what a chore for the adult who is reading it!

I am so glad to read that I am not the only one who has some discomfort with the theme of this book. That aside, I find this installment disjointed at best and I am very surprised that Falconer's copy editor did not assist more in making this a better read. My children do love the two pages where she is yelling at her little brothers, but beyond that, it's weak. I would say it's worth a trip to the library to read it once because I think the illustrations of this series are fabulous, but it certainly doesn't deserve a place in a permanent collection. Let's hope that Mr. Falconer frequents Amazon.com!

Ian Falconer has built a large fan base with the silly pig,Olivia. Her pig antics are on a human scale, and children and adults can identify with her. Olivia has her mind set on a new jersey and not the kind her friends have. Her mom is busy with this new jersey until Olivia discovers her favorite toy is missing- everything in the household stops to help Olivia find her toy. Alas, it is gone. In a dream/nightmare Olivia sees her dog chewing on her favorite toy- oh no, mommy sews it back together and Olivia is free to move on to other things. I know Olivia lives in the heart of her young readers. My granddaughter sent me the following:
"hi gramma
the new olivia book came and i love it! she is such a silly piggy. mom says she is a little ornery like me. i don't know what she means. thank you for thinking of me and for the nice prezzie." This says it all- don't you think? prisrob

As usual the art is wonderful and there are some great individualistic Olivia moments.

the "scary" part did not scare my 21 mo. son.

However, while I understand that some think Olivia's little interaction with her father at the end is a realistic portrayal of kids' behavior my problem with that whole scene is the stereotypical 1950s message. Mom feed baby. Dad reads newspaper???? Mom tries to comfort child. Dad blithely offers a new toy and glosses over her loss? You would think any author in 2003 could do better than that. Certainly someone as talented as Falconer should do better than that.

We are diehard fans of Oliva. My daughter can't read yet but has memorized each of the Oliva books. So I was eagerly anticipating the next installment. Then when I saw the cover of Oliva and the Missing Toy, I laughed out loud.

That said I was somewhat disappointed. It's still brilliant, just not as brilliant as I was expecting given the previous two books and the set up from the cover. Perhaps my expectations were set too high. My daughter still loved it though and memorized it after three readings.

As for the book being scary... we had to leave "Finding Nemo" halfway through the picture, but the "scary" pages provoked nothing but laughter from my daughter with how over-the-top melodramatic they were.

As for the book sending a bad message, maybe some people aren't swift enough to pick up the real message in the subtext without it being spelled out, but my 5 year old daughter got it right away. Frankly I'd take this slightly sub-par Oliva book over the typical PC dreck any day of the week. After all, how many kid's books even have subtext?

From the cover of this book I thought it was going to be a who done it. That the inside illustrations were going to reflect what was on the outside cover. When Olivia does discover her favorite toy is missing, I could see the atmosphere slowly shading to dark. My daughter is too young to get it, it was deffinately lacking in the atmosphere the that the cover of the book set. Also the mystery is solved quickly, without any investigation, only Olivia placing the blame on different members of the family with one question, "What did you do with my toy?".
I was a bit confused with the begining of the story. Olivia is upset her soccer uniform is green so her mother makes her a red one. That was the end of that. My daughter wanted to know what happened when Olivia went to the soccer game wearing a color different from the team. How were the other soccer players going to feel and how would that make Olivia feel. I was waiting for this to tie into the story of the missing toy some how and it didn't. This story is not a story at all. There were no key elements to a story nor was there any flow. It was pretty much a documentry of events in this particualr day in the life of Olivia. My child and I had different expectations after reading the first Olivia book, but were dissapointed. I suggest borrowing this book from your library before purchasing it for your child's collection.

In this thrid adventure we find Oliva once again exerting her individuality, demanding a new uniform color...so she can look different from the rest of the team. She then becomes further self-absorbed in a quest for her lost toy. Also in this installment we meet her father, a somewhat dotng pig, Olivia doesn't seem to mind.

Please see my other reviews of Olivia books for more details, this book follows the same form. Another not so small detraction though is Falconers use of frightening shadows. Once again my daughter was scared by a shadows which really seems out of place with the rest of his story. Still, these stories are fun to read and my daughter enjoys them.

Some people complain that Olivia is a brat, well she is but no more so then other children her age, especially the eldest sibling. Like most children her age, she is absorbed in her own world. Falconer doesnt soften it on how we would like her to be, she is who she is yet she is a growing, thriving child in a nurturing family with two other children who appear to be doing quite well. Nothing wrong with reality based story telling, we see Olivia with her faults as well as strengths (imagination, creativity)