07/24/2023
Olive Chen, who reads as East Asian, believes she’s “the most magnificent and brilliant artist in the whole wide world,” and she dresses accordingly, wearing a beret-topped ensemble of primary colors. Olive is also defiantly out of step with the rest of her sphere, which is depicted as rigidly monochromatic and form-focused; as she jubilantly paints in bright, uninhibited splatters and swirls, her artist parents and art teacher insist that crisp, inky circles, squares, and triangles are the height of artistic expression. But Olive’s classmates, depicted with varying skin tones, find her art and joie de vivre irresistible. After following her lead in their own creations, they join her on a mission to repaint the whole town—and even her parents have to agree that it’s a brighter, happier place for her touch. Making her solo debut and working in an array of exuberantly applied media, Cho (Oh No, the Aunts Are Here) revels in coloring outside the lines via a protagonist whose lack of self-doubt and unwillingness to go along to get along delivers an aesthetic and emotional zhuzh. Ages 4–8. Agent: Rebecca Sherman, Writers House. (Sept.)
"Irrepressible. Joyful. Vibrant and full of oomph! Olive Chen is the artist of the year!" — Andrea Beaty, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Rosie Revere, Engineer
"Lian Cho has managed to bring together a visually stunning, energetic story full of clever humor, heart, and a reminder that art has no boundaries. Olive is someone we all hope to be more like!" — Ruth Chan, author-illustrator of Thank You, Neighbor
"An infectiously gleeful celebration of art and being true to yourself." — Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
"This smile-inducing read-aloud celebrates being yourself and embracing your talents." — Booklist (starred review)
"The exuberant, brightly colored, non-representational art that Olive chooses is fun, and young students will be excited to try out some of the splashing and smearing that Olive does. This is a pithy story about finding your own voice, even when adults keep coming in the way." — School Library Journal
"Irresistible." — Publishers Weekly
"Cho creates a loveable and energetic protagonist who cultivates and defines her unique art style rather than following her parents’ expectations and societal norms. With a delightful, surprising ending, this will make an easy pick for little artists to celebrate the joys and triumphs of creating art with no boundaries." — Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books
07/01/2023
PreS-Gr 2—Olive thinks she is a fabulous artist, sloshing colorful paint everywhere; her parents believe she should be painting shapes in black and white. They send her to art school, but Olive paints her own way, and pretty soon the other kids at school want to paint their own way as well. When Olive's parents see the work the kids have done all over town, they have an unanticipated change of heart, and ask Olive to paint on some of their monochromatic single shape paintings, which Olive does. The exuberant, brightly colored, non-representational art that Olive chooses is fun, and young students will be excited to try out some of the splashing and smearing that Olive does. This is a pithy story about finding your own voice, even when adults keep coming in the way. It would be a good companion to Peter Reynolds's The Dot or Mac Barnett's Square. VERDICT A nice story about finding one's own voice regardless of the medium.—Debbie Tanner
★ 2023-06-21
A young iconoclast shakes things up.
Debut author Cho introduces us to the rambunctious Olive Chen, who lives in an orderly, monochromatic town and enjoys splattering, smearing, and licking paint to create exuberantly colorful masterpieces. Olive believes that she is the “most magnificent and brilliant artist in the whole wide world.” Her parents, on the other hand, have their doubts. Serious artists, they wonder when Olive will paint perfectly precise squares and triangles just like them. They send her to art class, but even after a year of lessons Olive does not paint any shapes. She does, however, find admirers among her classmates, who ask her to teach them her trademark style. Together, they envelop the town with an explosion of color, all the way to her parents’ museum….This humorous tale has an undeniable charm and serves as a reminder to serious adults of the wonderful possibilities of embracing new ways of thinking and doing. Cho perfectly captures the pure effervescent joy of children creating art with her vibrant use of color and Olive’s wide-mouthed, exaggerated expressions as she romps about. Readers will enjoy poring over the small details and stories hidden within the town before, during, and after the color transformation. Olive and her parents are cued Chinese; her classmates are diverse. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
An infectiously gleeful celebration of art and being true to yourself. (Picture book. 4-8)
