Olivia... and the Missing Toy

Hyperactive porcine wonder Olivia returns in this third picture-book devoted to her hilarious adventures, following upon the Caldecott Honor-winning Olivia, and the fun follow-up, Olivia Saves the Circus. Here Olivia finds that her favorite toy has gone missing, and in a film-noir setting, she explores the mystery. The solution - the family dog Perry has eaten her beloved plaything - proves rather mundane, but Olivia is capable of making a drama of anything. Fortunately, she's also capable of forgiveness...

Like its predecessors, I found Olivia and the Missing Toy absolutely hilarious! Ian Falconer has a real gift for capturing the simultaneously stubborn and sweet quality of his little piglet heroine, as well as the sometimes appalled, show more but always loving reactions of her very patient mother. The artwork, done in charcoal and gouache, captures all the little humorous details in the story, as well as adding some of its own. I particularly appreciated the use of a darker background, and a strategically placed candelabra, in the 'film noir' mystery sequence. All in all, another winner in this wonderful picture-book series! Recommended to anyone who has read and enjoyed the other Olivia books, or who is looking for children's stories featuring imaginative and somewhat madcap little girls. show less

I love the Olivia books! I really liked this one because it shows the readers that toys are a big part of a child’s life. Sometime these toys are their best friends until they start school. The illustrations showed Olivia getting upset when her toy went missing. It showed the emotion of her being happy playing with it, being sad when she lost it, then happy again when her father said she could get a new toy and when she fixed her old toy. The language of the story showed the emotion of Olivia when she was upset. The text got bigger when she was yelling at her mother, her brothers and her dog. The language also was explanatory in the book. The author wrote about Olivia looking everywhere and asking everyone where her toy was. For show more instance she looked, “under the rug, under the sofa, and under the cat”. The characters are very relatable, just like the other Olivia books. It is a basic family with an older sister, two younger brothers, a mother, a father, a cat, and a dog. A lot of the students who read this book can relate to this because they most likely have had their toys chewed up by their dogs. The big idea of this story is to show that toys can be fixed or replaced. It is not the end of the world if your dog chews up your toy or if it just get simply lost. show less

Olivia's favorite toy is lost and she is determined to find out answers: where has it gone and who took it away?

This book was an interesting enough read. It started out just a wee too long for young readers with lots of backstory about the toy. But then it moved along to the mystery aspect, ultimately landing on a satisfying conclusion. A good mystery should always be rewarding in its payout and this one does deliver. It also manages to incorporate some small elements of the classic noir while staying child friendly.

My hesitation with more wholeheartedly recommending this book is that Olivia acts a bit bratty/spoiled in certain parts. By the end, she's behaved a little better but it's not really addressed how some of her previous show more actions weren't the best. show less

This book is part of a series about a young girl pig and her adventures through life. I enjoyed these a lot when I was younger and had fun re reading this one in particular. In this book, Olivia has lost her favorite toy, a stuffed animal. Olivia searches and searches for her toy and unfortunately finds it after her pet dog has chewed it up. Olivia is crushed, and despite the offer from her father for a new toy, she sows up her stuffed animal and forgives the dog. The illustrations in these stories are what make it so great, mostly all of the book is in black and white except for Olivia's clothing and toys, which are usually red.

The Olivia series is fun. This adorable little large eared pig finds herself in situations she's often the creator of. She's sassy, confident, imaginative, and a bit mischievous. The illustration art style is monochromatic with pops of color....very similar to the Madeline book series. My children and I all love little Olivia!

Of all the "Olivia" books, "Olivia and the Missing Toy" was probably my least favorite to read, but that's not saying much because I love Olivia as a character and Falconer as her creator. The story is one we've all faced to some degree before: a toy is lost and the dog is to blame. In Olivia's encounter with this age old epidemic, she treats the misfortune as a mystery. When she solves the mystery, she taps into her ingenuity to fix her beloved toy that was torn to bits by the dog. As all the other "Olivia" books, "Olivia and the Missing Toy" fits well in the genre of fantasy because of the relatable stories being played out by a family of talking pigs in a world that even an adult reader begins to believe in. I did like this book, show more however it would not be my first choice of an "Olivia" book. In a classroom, I think this would be good for talking about emotions, like how we feel when we lose things (which could develop into a larger conversation). Additionally, the mystery aspect of this book would make for a fun interactive read aloud.
Media: charcoal and gouache show less

When I was a young girl, I can remember reading all the "Olivia" books. I enjoyed her spunky and curious character. I remember reading this book, "Olivia and the Missing Toy," when I was about ten years old. Olivia is a pig that is always using her imagination. The book opens with her dreaming that she is riding a camel in Egypt. Her mother wakes her up and reminds her that she has soccer practice. Olivia strives to stand out from everyone else, which is why she asks her mother to make her a red jersey instead of her "unattractive green" one. While her mother is sewing her a new jersey, Olivia becomes impatient and entertains herself with her toys. When her mother is done, Olivia notices that her favorite toy is missing. She searches show more the house until she finds it with her dog, Perry, but it is in pieces. She cries over the loss of her favorite toy and tells her mom, "Only books about cats tonight!" But at the end of the book, Perry is sleeping with Olivia in her bed. The message behind this fun, short story is forgiveness. Things will happen that will make us upset, but it is important to forgive and move forward. Something that I did not noticed when I read this as a child was the coloring. Almost everything is either black, white, or grey. The illustrator put hints of green and red throughout the book whenever something was related to Olivia. I think that the illustrator used this coloring to focus the readers on those certain aspects of the book. I also think she used the coloring to show the readers that Olivia, and her imagination, brings color and life to the book. I loved these books when I was younger, and I still do. show less