Ian Falconer and Olivia
By Katherine Pierpont, Senior Editor

Ian Falconer in front of his original model of the Teatro Olivia play set (complete with paper dolls, playbills and scenery for three shows!), based on Olivia Saves the Circus.

She's a pig with pluck. Incorrigible, uncompromising and utterly charming, Olivia is very much her own, um, pig. And lucky for us, author/illustrator Ian Falconer would never dream of changing her in the slightest.

What originally began as a thoughtful Christmas present for his niece of the same name has since skyrocketed into the phenomenally best-selling Olivia (Simon & Schuster, 2000), Olivia Saves the Circus (Atheneum, 2001), Olivia…and the Missing Toy (Atheneum, 2003) and the latest book in the series, Olivia Forms a Band (Atheneum, 2006). Even several years later, Ian Falconer seems to be a little overwhelmed by his success. "I still think to myself, 'What happened?'" he said. Luckily, the "real" Olivia handles her unexpected celebrity with aplomb, much as you'd imagine her book-version would. "I don't think she pays much attention to it really," Ian laughed. "She's at an age now (she's 12) where they're sort of over that. When she was younger, kids used to bring the books in for her to sign. I think she got a little sick of it."

Just the way you are. Surprisingly, for someone so irrepressible, Olivia almost didn't make it to print. Realizing that he had stumbled upon a character who would resonate with a lot of other children as well, Ian brought Olivia to a children's book agent in Manhattan. They loved the book but felt it could be even better if it were written by a children's book writer who had already been published. "I thought to myself, 'Illustrated by Ian Falconer? No, no. This is my character!'" he said.

The latest Olivia book, Olivia Forms a Band, marched into bookstores this past June.

At the time, he was painting and also costume and stage designing for the theatre and ballet and inevitably, Olivia ended up being shelved for a couple of years. In the meantime, Ian began illustrating covers for The New Yorker (he's got about 20 to his credit thus far), which caught the eye of Anne Schwartz at Simon & Schuster. She asked him if he had ever considered illustrating for children and he showed her Olivia. "And she liked it exactly the way it was," he said.

Something rare. When we first meet Olivia, she is singing from a songbook entitled, 40 Very Loud Songs, which somehow seems to be the perfect how-do-you-do to this loveable little sophisticate. Later, upon seeing a Jackson Pollock painting at a museum, she sniffs, "I could do that in about five minutes." The next page shows us Olivia trying her hand at abstract expressionism on her bedroom wall.

In addition to this incredibly engaging introduction to Olivia, one is struck almost immediately by the book's minimalist aesthetic – the only colors are red, black and white – that is employed throughout the entire book – something rather rare in children's books. Even though he's a master at producing (seemingly) artfully simple books so that his readers' imaginations will soar beyond the page, Ian surmises it takes about six months for him to write and illustrate a book, not accounting for the tweaking that takes place before the book actually makes it to the printer.

Olivia makes sure her name comes first as Ian Falconer signs his books for our Lucky Subscriber

He's also very aware and respectful of just how much kids pick up on. Each of Ian Falconer's books carries an undercurrent of sly, sophisticated humor that he very firmly believes children "get" just fine.

"Actually, I'm a little afraid of audiences of children, because they don't clap out of politeness!" he laughed. "Kids are really deadly honest." He told us of a book signing he had done in a small community to help raise money for their fire department. A little girl approached him and quickly checked his author photo in the back of Olivia. "Was this taken a long time ago?" she asked. "Why, does it look like it was taken a while ago?" he inquired. "Uh huh," she answered.

A real band. Just as she proved she was unexpectedly talented in all areas of circus performance in Olivia Saves the Circus, we shouldn't be at all surprised to learn in Olivia Forms a Band that Olivia is also adept at commanding her own one-pig band. Olivia, her mother and father and her brothers Ian and William (who, by the way, reflect the "real" Olivia's family – even Perry the dog and Edwin the cat are included) are off to have a picnic and see some fireworks. Before they leave, Olivia insists that if there are fireworks, there must be a band. Her mother voices her uncertainty about the presence of a band, in which case, Olivia decides that her family will instead be the band. Everyone takes the cue to hotfoot it out of there and Olivia is left to devise the band by her own means. When her mother gently informs her that one person can't be a whole band, Olivia reasons, "But, Mommy, this morning you told me I sounded like five people!" She sets to work "borrowing" a few things – her baby brother William's xylophone, her father's suspenders (while he's still wearing them, of course) – all that's left is the proper band attire. We've learned from the previous Olivia books that Olivia is a big advocate of the clothes making the pig. Even though it's apparent that she's making an ungodly racket, we can also see that in Olivia's mind, she sounds just like a real band.

Jessica Rae Patton (left), Ian Falconer (center) and Kate Pierpont (right) better not get any bright ideas about, ahem, hogging the spotlight.

No swan song just yet. Although Ian had said before that four books seemed like a nice amount for a series, don't be too sure that this is the last we'll be hearing from Olivia. "Well, I don't think the series would be complete without a Christmas book," he shared (we later learned that Olivia's Christmas should be out in October 2007).

Ian had begun working on the Christmas book when he found out he had stomach ulcers and ultimately had to undergo surgery. He put the book on hold, but later returned to another book that he had dashed off quickly. "It looked really fresh and fun, so I thought I'd do Olivia Forms a Band instead of going right back to the Christmas book," he said. "Sometimes those things that you do quickly are better than the things that you labor over for a long, long time."

At the end of Olivia, after a brief squabble over how many books to read before bed (Olivia brings in five, her mother gets her to relent at three), her mother says, "You know, you really wear me out. But I love you anyway." Without missing a beat, Olivia bestows a kiss on her and says, "I love you anyway too." As do we.