What Ollie Saw by Joukje Akveld. Illustrated by Sieb Posthuma. Translated by Bill Nagelkerke. 56 p. Levine Querido, April 6, 2021. 9781646140398. (Review of finished copy courtesy of publisher.)
Ollie is a little pig of indeterminate age, but probably around six, who wears a blue beanie and can do without his know-it-all, grouchy sister. She grizzles everywhere, but most of all on family outings, which she finds very boring. Not Ollie though. The dull cows are water buffalo, which Ollie gleefully imagines stomping his sister. Dumb cars caught in a traffic jam are a parade in Ollie's view and a slow and boring sailboat ride is really a pirate ship. Ollie is happy with the way he sees things until he goes to school where his teacher is not happy with the way he sees letters and his classmates laugh at him.
Ollie needs glasses.
Unfortunately, glasses turn the extraordinary into the ordinary, which does not please him in the least.
This book is quite adorable, humorous, and engaging. The whimsical cartoonish art, we learn on a page entitled, "Some Notes on this Book's Production," was created with watercolor, pencil, and ink. We also learn that there are nearly 500 pairs of glasses decorating the endpapers. I just love it when publishers take the time to describe the media used. This page is terrific.
What Ollie Saw is a first-purchase for any library.
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