OH, OLIVE! by Lian Cho
Next Tuesday kicks off the most exciting time of year: Summer reading at the Joplin Public Library! If you are unfamiliar, the summer reading program is an eight-week, all-ages reading challenge accompanied by fun and educational events. Notable events this summer include a sourdough making program for adults, a Tiny Library Desk concert in the Teen Department, and storytellers, jugglers, and scientists in the Children’s Department.
Participants in the reading challenge must read a specific number of hours and complete 10 activities to earn a prize. Readers can also enter to win grand prize drawings at the end of the summer.
Our theme for this year’s summer reading program is “Color Our World,” and our artwork and events are focused on all things color and art. As such, I would like to share one of my newest favorite picture books with beautiful art.
Oh, Olive! is the latest release from Lian Cho, one of my new favorite picture book creators.
This book has so many beautiful and tiny details to examine. You could spend five minutes reading the story, or you could spend twenty minutes looking closely at individual details and colors, analyzing Cho’s choices. Oh, Olive! is also funny! Cho’s book tells the story of Olive Chen, “the most magnificent and brilliant artist in the whole wide world.” Olive is tragically misunderstood by her parents, both very serious artists. Olive’s square-shaped father only paints squares. Olive’s triangular mother only paints triangles. Olive, on the other hand, loves colorful, abstract art. From page to page, Olive can be seen pouring paint buckets, splattering brushes, and licking her canvas. Even her teacher tries to box her praising the shape-centric artwork of her classmates while suggesting that Olive try a shape next time instead of commenting on the beauty and color of her abstract piece.
The art elevates the story and affirms what readers will instantly recognize: Olive is something special. The art in the first three-quarters of the book is all grayscale, except Olive. Where her parents, classmates, and her neighborhood are all gray, white, and black, Olive is red, blue, and yellow. Where they have small scowls or bored expressions, Olive has a smile that takes up her whole face. Color follows Olive everywhere. She typically stands proudly atop puddles and splatters of paint in a range of colors, including orange, green, purple, pink, and yellow. Also, Olive’s art is undeniably beautiful.I read this aloud to a first-grade class last week and one of the students exclaimed, “the illustrator is an amazing artist!” First grader, you are correct. The student also opined that Olive’s parents had bad taste, which I may or may not have agreed with.
Eventually, after some encouraging words from her classmates, Olive’s color spreads from student to student, from her teacher to her neighbors. By the end of the book, everything is colorful and everyone is smiling. Oh, Olive! is the story of a tenacious young girl following her heart. It is also a gentle encouragement for kids who might think they aren’t “good” artists. I am hopeful that they will take Olive’s words to heart and understand that “anyone can do it.” You can find Lian Cho’s Oh, Olive! at the library. You can also find more information about summer reading through our website at www.joplinpubliclibrary.org/summer-reading. Happy reading!
