Olivia

Ian Falconer

Though I work in a bookstore, I discovered 1 2 3 when my brother gave it to my one-year-old daughter with the intention of helping her learn to count. At first glance I thought it was a nice counting book with beautiful illustrations. Once we read it a couple times, though, I began to notice details I had missed that made reading this book so much more than reciting numbers.

Each page represents a number and also offers delightful hidden surprises. The number six, for example, stars Hansel and Gretel and six shiny sweets, six lollipops outside the witch’s house, six mushrooms in the yard, six white birds, and six cats sulking about. Every page is a scavenger hunt with tons of little details tucked into the nooks and crannies of the illustrations that reinforce that page’s number. Children (and their parents) will enjoy recognizing characters they know well, with spreads depicting scenes from fairy tales from Sleeping Beauty and Jack and the Beanstalk to The Red Shoes and Little Red Riding Hood. There are often characters from other stories slipped into the background, foreshadowing their dedicated page to come. If you look out the window of the Gingerbread Man’s kitchen, for example, you will see Jack’s beanstalk off in the distance and the Ugly Duckling’s pond on the horizon.

This is one counting book I won’t mind reading over and over because I find new details each time we read it. My daughter, at one, is captivated by the illustrations. She loves pointing out the different animals and details. I can only imagine that as she gets older, she will love the treasure-hunt aspects this book offers even more than I do. I think it will help make counting and learning math a lot of fun for her!

Format

Children's Board Books (Unabridged edition)

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CRITICS HAVE SAID

Come one, come all for this extraordinary debut for both Falconer and his unforgettable porcine heroine… Falconer’s choice to suggest Olivia with a minimum of details and a masterful black line allows readers to really identify with her-no doubt, they will. There’s a little bit of Olivia in everyone.–Publishers Weekly

IF YOU LOVE THIS BOOK, THEN TRY:

Beaumont, Karen. I Ain’t Gonna Paint No More. Harcourt, 2005.

Cordell, Matthew. Trouble Gum. Feiwel & Friends, 2009.

Falconer, Ian. Olivia . . . and the Missing Toy. Atheneum, 2003.

Falconer, Ian. Olivia Forms a Band. Atheneum, 2006.

Falconer, Ian. Olivia Saves the Circus. Atheneum, 2001.

Feiffer, Jules. Bark, George. HarperCollins, 1999.

Hobbie, Holly. Toot & Puddle: You Are My Sunshine. Little, Brown, 1999. (And others in the Toot & Puddle series.)

Laden, Nina. Roberto the Insect Architect. Chronicle, 2000.

McPhail, David. Pig Pig Grows Up. Dutton, 1980. (And others in the Pig Pig series.)

Palatini, Margie. Piggie Pie. Clarion, 1995.

Pomerantz, Charlotte. The Piggy in the Puddle. Macmillan, 1974.

Rylant, Cynthia. Poppleton. Scholastic, 1997. (And others in the Poppleton series.)

Schachner, Judy. Skippyjon Jones. Dutton, 2003.

Van Leeuwen, Jean. Amanda Pig and Her Big Brother Oliver. Dial, 1982. (And others in the Amanda and Oliver Pig series.)

Wells, Rosemary. Max Cleans Up. Viking, 2000. (And others in the Max and Ruby series.)