Olivia the pig is in a play…does she earn the lead role of Fairy Queen? Umm, no. Much to her dismay, she is cast as Cow Number Two!

I recently agreed to review Simon and Schuster’s new Olivia book, Olivia Acts Out. When my copy arrived in the mail, we were all very excited.

Although my children and I love all the original Olivia books by Ian Falconer (we own them all!), this one is different. It is adapted by Jodie Shepherd and based on a screenplay by Pat Resnick (illustrated by Patrick Spaziante). Screenplay? It’s based on a TV show! Having no TV, I didn’t even realize that Olivia was now a show on Nickelodeon.

Although we were unaware of the television connection, I really did like the book as a book (rather than just a tie-in), and so did my children. It’s cute, it has humor, and Olivia is the same old funny, competitive, full of character piggy. There is no need to make a connection to a TV show to enjoy this book.

The format of the book is different from the original ones. Olivia Acts Out is a large board book. The cover is solid, and the pages are sturdy cardboard. This sturdiness is ideal for younger children.

The other new element that stands out are the illustrations. The book is in full color! The originals were mostly black, white, and red (red is clearly Olivia’s favorite color). Although I loved the simplicity of the original books, these illustrations are also very engaging. Olivia still likes red clothes and accessories, but multicolor makes the characters look more realistic. There is a texture to some of the drawings which should add extra interest for very young children. The cover is flocked for some fuzzy-texture enjoyment too.

Olivia Acts Out seems like a great book for younger Olivia fans. The humor is not quite as subtle as in the originals, and the colorful, textured illustrations add lots of extra interest for little ones. My kids enjoyed it.

Thank you Simon and Schuster!