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Title: Olivia Saves the Circus by Ian Falconer ISBN: 0-689-82954-X Publisher: Atheneum Pub. Date: 01 October, 2001 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.6 (47 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Olivia Saves the Circus.
Comment: Olivia Saves the Circus. By Ian Falconer. Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2001.
35 pages. (Ages 3-6)
Once again Olivia dazzles her readers in this sequel to Ian Falconer's 2001 Caldecott Honor Book Olivia. Olivia begins her daily routine with moving her cat, brushing her teeth, doing her exercises and even assisting her mother by making breakfast for her two little brothers before she goes off to school. After accessorizing her dull gray school uniform with bright red pieces, Olivia is ready to go, "Beep, beep - coming through," as she speeds away to school on her scooter.
Standing in front of the class Olivia captivates her listeners by reporting on her vacation as "Olivia always blossoms in front of an audience." Falconer portrays Olivia's little red accessories to stand out among the rest of the charcoal colored pictures. As Olivia begins telling her story about going to the circus, the colors of the pictures go from red to a salmon-pink where Olivia's vivid imagination kicks in. She impresses her audience with astounding feats of carrying out the acts of each circus person because "all the circus people were out sick with ear infections." Falconer portrays Olivia performing each circus person's acts in superb detail and Olivia becomes enthralled with her own outstanding performance. Olivia shining in the spotlight on the circus floor ends her fantasy vacation story with "And that's how I saved the circus. And now I am famous."
"Then one time my dad took me sailing The End," is portrayed by Falconer with Olivia entering back into reality in her red outfit with her only memory of a boring vacation. Olivia's teacher, having a difficult time believing her circus story, asks Olivia if the story is true. The witty Olivia answers "To the best of my recollection."
Falconer portrays a self-confident girl that teaches others how to use their imagination. His form of writing intermingled with his outstanding illustration ability, makes this wonderful book a learning tool that is sure to win over the hearts of many children, young and old alike.
Rating: 5
Summary: Olivia saves bedtime...
Comment: I am here to buy this book and it's predecessor. We picked up Olivia Saves the Circus at the library, and now I have to buy one because we can't renew it anymore! My son is only 16 months old, but he gets very excited when he sees this book come out at bedtime. One night I gathered up a few books to read before bed, and Olivia wasn't in the stack. He looked over the books, then scooted into the living room and returned with Olivia Saves the Circus, asking (in his own way) that it be read. Now he insists that it is part of his bedtime ritual. If I don't have it in the stack of bedtime books, he finds it and brings it along. And when we get to the trampoline part, he always throws up his hands and says, "Wow!" And both his father and I love it, too. The illustrations are wonderful, and the whole character of Olivia - her bold self-confidence, her independent spirit and imagination - is very charming. My favorite part is the end - "Maybe..." I love a pig who's sure of herself...
Rating: 3
Summary: There are better spunky imaginative kid stories
Comment: On a first, not-so-critical read, the story was enjoyable. The pictures, in black and white accessorized with red (see cover for example), are charming, serene and elegant. The poster of Eleanor Roosevelt in Olivia's bedroom can actually make it worth reading and is definitely a five star detail. The spotlighting of a different circus act on each page was great for my 2 1/2 year old who loves the circus. Olivia is a spunky and imaginative child. She is also spoiled and obnoxious with a badly stereotyped mother (passive) and female teacher (presumably anti-imagination and -fun). There is definitely a need for positive assertive and independent creative female protaginists in children's stories but there is no need to assume that the only alternatives are passive or killjoy older females. The pejorative portrayl of the teacher is enough to make this book a definite do not read. Given the problems with education and the images that children already receive, the last thing we need to do is unnecessarily make it worse by propogating more negative stereotypes about school. Olivia's attitude in responding to her teacher and her mother is unfortunately too realistic - there's no need to assume that such obnoxious behavior is admirable as long as one can be clever and individualistic. Adults need to take responsibility for the character traits that we are willing to validate as admirable and provide "people" in books and other media that we want children to emulate. For truly more admirable spunky and creative girls, try Pippi Longstocking, Amelia Bedelia, Pirate Pink, or Treva ("Trouble with Trolls"). The Caldecott Award is given to honor artists/illustrators, which also happens to be a key component to books for very young children. And this book is beautifully and uniquely illustrated. But given the nature of our society and the problems that parents and children must face, we need to be more diligent in what we expose our children to and that means being willing to take a stand and say no to books that don't remove the pejorative stereotypes and negative values. There are literally 1000s of books out there for young children. It's actually very easy to find really good stories-- with beautiful illustrations - so there's no need to have to settle for this story.
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Title: Olivia by Ian Falconer ISBN: 0689829531 Publisher: Atheneum Pub. Date: 01 October, 2000 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
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Title: Olivia Counts (Olivia) by Ian Falconer ISBN: 0689850875 Publisher: Atheneum Pub. Date: 01 June, 2002 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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Title: Olivia's Opposites by Ian Falconer ISBN: 0689850883 Publisher: Atheneum Pub. Date: 01 June, 2002 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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Title: Olivia . . . and the Missing Toy by Ian Falconer ISBN: 0689852916 Publisher: Atheneum Pub. Date: 07 October, 2003 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
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Title:10" Olivia the Pig ASIN: B00005BW8E Publisher: Gund Pub. Date: 18 February, 2003 Comparison N/A, buy it from Amazon for $19.99 |
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