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

Ian Falconer Ian Woodward Falconer (born August 25, 1959) is an American author and illustrator of children's books, and a designer of sets and costumes for the theater. He has created 30 covers for ''The New Yorker'' as well as other publications. Falconer wro ...

, the first entry of which was published in 2000. An

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

computer animated Computer animation is the process used for digitally generating animations. The more general term computer-generated imagery (CGI) encompasses both static scenes ( still images) and dynamic images ( moving images), while computer animation re ...

television series of the same name inspired by the character premiered in 2009.

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." The series is different from many children's picture books because of its stark minimalism. Inspired by the style of

Dr. Seuss Theodor Seuss Geisel (;"Seuss"
'' Degas Edgar Degas (, ; born Hilaire-Germain-Edgar De Gas, ; 19 July 183427 September 1917) was a French Impressionist artist famous for his pastel drawings and oil paintings. Degas also produced bronze sculptures, prints and drawings. Degas is espec ...

and

Pollock Pollock or pollack (pronounced ) is the common name used for either of the two species of North Atlantic marine fish in the genus ''Pollachius''. ''Pollachius pollachius'' is referred to as pollock in North America, Ireland and the United Kingd ...

, 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

Written by Falconer

* ''Olivia'' (2000) – a 2001

Caldecott Honor The Randolph Caldecott Medal, frequently shortened to just the Caldecott, annually recognizes the preceding year's "most distinguished American picture book for children". It is awarded to the illustrator by the Association for Library Service ...

book, listed as one of the "Teachers' Top 100 Books for Children" by the

National Education Association The National Education Association (NEA) is the largest labor union in the United States. It represents public school teachers and other support personnel, faculty and staffers at colleges and universities, retired educators, and college stude ...

in 2007, listed in the "Top 100 Picture Books" of all time in a 2012 poll by ''

School Library Journal ''School Library Journal'' (''SLJ'') is an American monthly magazine containing reviews and other articles for school librarians, media specialists, and public librarians who work with young people. Articles cover a wide variety of topics, with ...

'' * ''Olivia Saves the Circus'' (2001) – the 2002 Booksense Illustrated Children's Book of the Year * ''Olivia's Opposites'' (2002) – a board book * ''Olivia Counts'' (2002) – a board book * ''Olivia...and the Missing Toy'' (2003) * ''Teatro Olivia'' (2004) – a fold-out theater with paper dolls * ''Olivia Forms a Band'' (2006) – winner of 2006 Child Magazine's Best Children's Book Award * ''Olivia Helps with Christmas'' (2007) – Falconer won the 2008 Illustrator of the Year in the Children's Choice Book Awards for this title * ''Olivia Goes to Venice'' (2010) * ''Olivia and the Fairy Princesses'' (2012) * ''Olivia the Spy'' (2017)

Tie-ins A tie-in work is a work of fiction or other product based on a media property such as a film, video game, television series, board game, web site, role-playing game or literary property. Tie-ins are authorized by the owners of the original prope ...
to the
Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (often shortened to Nick) is an American pay television television channel, channel which launched on April 1, 1979, as the first cable channel for children. It is run by Paramount Global through its List of assets owned by Param ...
TV show (not written by Falconer)

*''Olivia Acts Out'' (2009) – hardcover *''Dinner with Olivia'' (2009) – paperback *''Olivia Trains Her Cat'' (2009) – paperback (a Ready-To-Read book) *''Olivia Leaps!'' (2009) – board book *''This is Olivia'' (2009) – hardcover (a fold-out book) *''Olivia the Magnificent: A Life-the-Flap Story'' (2009) – paperback *''Meet Olivia'' (2009) – a coloring and activity book *''Brava Olivia'' (2009) – a coloring and activity book with stickers *''Olivia and Her Ducklings'' (2010) – paperback (a Ready-To-Read book) *''Olivia and the Babies'' (2010) – paperback *''Olivia Takes a Trip'' (2010) – paperback (a Ready-To-Read book) *''Olivia Opens a Lemonade Stand'' (2010) – paperback *''Olivia and the School Carnival'' (2010) – paperback *''Olivia and the Snowy Day'' (2010) – hardcover (a Ready-To-Read book) *''Olivia Cooks Up a Surprise'' (2011) – hardcover *''Olivia Plants a Garden'' (2011) – hardcover (a Ready-To-Read book) *''Olivia Leads a Parade'' (2011) – paperback *''Olivia Goes Camping'' (2011) – hardcover (a Ready-To-Read book) *''Olivia Becomes a Vet'' (2011) – hardcover (a Ready-To-Read book) *''Olivia and the Rain Dance'' (2012) – hardcover (a Ready-To-Read book) *''Olivia and the Kite Party'' (2012) – hardcover (a Ready-To-Read book)

Awards

*Caldecott Honor for ''Olivia'', 2000 *Parent's Choice 2000, Gold Award Winner *Nick Jr. Best Book of 2001 *

ALA Notable Children's Book American Library Association Notable lists are announced each year in January by various divisions within the American Library Association (ALA). There are six lists, part of the larger ALA awards structure. * ''ALA Notable Books for Adults'' (est ...

s 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 Ricki Pamela Lake (born September 21, 1968) is an American television host and actress. She is known for her lead role as Tracy Turnblad in the 1988 film ''Hairspray'', for which she received a nomination for the Independent Spirit Award for Be ...

as Tiffany Lewis. * In 2008, Nickelodeon partnered with children's media company,

Chorion The chorion is the outermost fetal membrane around the embryo in mammals, birds and reptiles (amniotes). It develops from an outer fold on the surface of the yolk sac, which lies outside the zona pellucida (in mammals), known as the vitelline ...

, to bring the bestselling

Simon & Schuster Simon & Schuster () is an American publishing company and a subsidiary of Paramount Global. It was founded in New York City on January 2, 1924 by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. As of 2016, Simon & Schuster was the third largest publ ...

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 Brown Bag Films (BBF) is an Irish television CGI and computer animation production studio owned by Canadian production studio 9 Story Media Group and based in Dublin with 2D and 3D animation facilities based in Bali, Toronto and formerly Man ...

and launched on Nickelodeon on January 26, 2009. *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 The iTunes Store is a digital media store operated by Apple Inc. It opened on April 28, 2003, as a result of Steve Jobs' push to open a digital marketplace for music. As of April 2020, iTunes offered 60 million songs, 2.2 million apps, 25,00 ...

References

External links

Olivia on Nick Jr.ChorionBrown Bag Films
*
Simon & Schuster- Ian Falconer Author ProfilePolin8 Media
{{Pigs Olivia (TV series) Fictional pigs DreamWorks Classics Literary characters introduced in 2000 Pigs in literature Series of children's books