2 stars

To my knowledge, this is the first Olivia book I have read. I have heard of them and worked with a kid who enjoyed the show, so when I saw this in the Little Free Lending Library, I figured I’d give it a try.

I didn’t really know what to expect, but it definitely wasn’t this. While parts of the book were humorous, the story itself felt very disjointed. It starts out with Olivia making a band, but then she abandons the idea halfway through. While this is pretty typical of children (and many adults, for that matter), it made for kind of a weird book. The title seemed misleading. It’s more like Olivia Form a Band and Then Does a Bunch of Other Random Stuff.

Also, I can’t lie, I was kind of creeped out by the mash-up illustrations. The insertion of photographs looked weird (and those freaking teeth in the lipstick scene are going to give me nightmares, thanks, Falconer!).

I will say, I did appreciate how extensive the “noises” were in the text (PING, THUD, KINNK, POINNNGG). That took some creativity.

Overall, this book didn’t really live up to the hype for me. It was an okay read.