Olivia
Written and Illustrated by Ian Falconer
Amazon Link: £6.49 (Hardback)
Television's most precocious pig starlet in book form is a more pleasant prospect than sitting through the television show. Olivia, unlike Peppa, is a pig who seems to be absolutely brilliant at everything and doesn't mind who knows it. Just once while watching the TV show you'd like to see Olivia fall flat on her face while trying to do Ballet, or end up losing out to her competitive classmate.
The book's simple charcoal and gouache illustrations are neat, and though there's not really much of a storyline to speak of, it's engaging enough and Falconer's skill is to include just enough content to keep kids happy, and keep parents thinking "Yeah, my youngster does that too".
Charlotte's best bit: "Move the cat"
Daddy's favourite bit: Olivia saying exactly the same thing about Jackson Pollock that Mummy said when we went to the Tate Modern recently.
Rating: 3 out of 5