Olivia (fictional pig)

Olivia is a fictional pig character in a series of children's books written and illustrated by Ian Falconer.

Olivia
Olivia the pig, as seen on the cover of the first book.
First appearanceOlivia (2000)
Created byIan Falconer
Voiced byEmily Gray & Jo Wyatt
In-universe information
SpeciesPig
GenderFemale

Development

The Olivia book series was inspired by Ian Falconer's niece, Olivia. "I was just entranced by her," he stated. "I wanted to make a little present for her, so I started working on the Olivia book."[1]

The series is different from many children's picture books because of its stark minimalism. Inspired by the style of Dr. Seuss, Falconer chose to draw uncluttered images in black and white with the occasional splash of red, along with the insertion of real artwork by famous artists — Degas and Pollock, for example. Each book in the series explores the use of another signature color in addition to the original black, white and red images.

Olivia books have been translated into many languages including Czech, French, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Dutch, Chinese, Japanese, Danish, Swedish, Finnish, Russian, Hebrew and Latin.

Books

In the original Olivia series:

  • Olivia, 2000 [2]– a 2001 Caldecott Honor book,[3] listed as one of the "Teachers' Top 100 Books for Children" by the National Education Association in 2007,[4] listed in the "Top 100 Picture Books" of all time in a 2012 poll by School Library Journal[5]
  • Olivia Saves the Circus, 2001[6] – the 2002 Booksense Illustrated Children's Book of the Year
  • Olivia's Opposites,[7] 2002
  • Olivia Counts,[8] 2002
  • Olivia...and the Missing Toy,[9] 2003
  • Teatro Olivia,[10] 2004
  • Olivia Forms a Band,[11] 2006 – winner of 2006 Child Magazine's Best Children's Book Award
  • Olivia Helps with Christmas,[12] 2007 – Falconer won the 2008 Illustrator of the Year in the Children's Choice Book Awards for this title
  • Olivia Goes to Venice[13], 2010, 2010
  • Olivia and the Fairy Princesses, 2012
  • Olivia the Spy,[14] 2017

There have been no further additions to the Olivia series as of 2020-02-13.

In the television based series:[15]

  • Dinner with Olivia - storybook
  • Olivia Trains her Cat - Ready-To-Read book
  • Olivia Leaps - deluxe board book
  • This is Olivia - pop-out pages book
  • Olivia the Magnificent - Lift the Flap book
  • Olivia Acts Out - Hardcover book
  • Meet Olivia! - Coloring book
  • Brava Olivia! - Coloring and sticker book

Awards
  • Caldecott Honor for Olivia, 2000
  • Parent's Choice 2000, Gold Award Winner
  • Nick Jr. Best Book of 2001
  • ALA Notable Children's Books 2000 & 2001
  • Child's Best Book of 2001
  • Los Angeles Times Best Books of 2000 & 2001
  • Publishers Weekly, Best Books of 2000 & 2001
  • BookSense Illustrated Children's Book of the Year for Olivia Saves the Circus, 2002
  • Voted "Favorite Illustrator" for Olivia Helps with Christmas by over 50,000 children at the Children's Choice Book Awards, 2008

In other adaptations
  • In 2006, Olivia was one of eight characters to be featured by the United States Postal Service on first-class stamps as part of the "Favorite Children's Book Animals" issue.
  • In 2005, Olivia made her first television appearance as a doll (voiced by Emily Gray) who is the co-host of the live-action comedy television series, The Olivia Squared TV Show hosted by Ricki Lake as Tiffany Lewis.
  • In 2008, Nickelodeon partnered with children's media company, Chorion, to bring the bestselling Simon & Schuster Olivia books to life in a new animated television series. The new 3D CGI series was produced by Academy Award nominated animation studio Brown Bag Films and launched on Nickelodeon on January 26, 2009.[16]
  • In 2011, Polin8 Media partnered with children's media company, Chorion, to create an interactive iPad application "Olivia Acts Out" available on the iTunes Store.

See also

References
  1. "Ian Falconer Biography".
  2. "Olivia (Olivia, #1)". www.goodreads.com. Retrieved 2020-01-25.
  3. Association for Library Service to Children. "Caldecott Medal & Honor Books, 1938-Present". American Library Association. Retrieved August 24, 2012.
  4. National Education Association (2007). "Teachers' Top 100 Books for Children". Retrieved August 22, 2012.
  5. Bird, Elizabeth (July 6, 2012). "Top 100 Picture Books Poll Results". School Library Journal "A Fuse #8 Production" blog. Archived from the original on December 4, 2012. Retrieved August 22, 2012.
  6. "Olivia Saves the Circus (Olivia, #2)". www.goodreads.com. Retrieved 2020-01-25.
  7. "Compare - Olivia vs Olivia's Opposites". olivia.childrens-library.com. Retrieved 2020-01-25.
  8. Olivia Counts. 2002-06-01. ISBN 978-0-689-85087-5.
  9. "Olivia and the Missing Toy (Olivia, #3)". www.goodreads.com. Retrieved 2020-01-25.
  10. "Teatro Olivia". www.goodreads.com. Retrieved 2020-01-25.
  11. "Olivia Forms a Band (Olivia, #4)". www.goodreads.com. Retrieved 2020-01-25.
  12. Olivia Helps With Christmas. 2014-10-09. ISBN 978-1-4711-2310-8.
  13. Bruder, Jessica (2011-01-14). "Pig With Passport". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-01-25.
  14. Olivia the Spy. ISBN 9781471164231.
  15. "Olivia TV Tie-in Books".
  16. "Nickelodeon Brings Children's Publishing Phenomenon Olivia to Life With TV Series". Reuters. Retrieved on 2009-07-06. 2009-01-06.
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