Starred Review for Kirkus Reviews

A delightful tale about a boy who is different and his discovery of a kindred spirit, gracefully written to celebrate dreamers and readers--and those who need not change to find friends. Oliver lives happily in his imagination; puppets and toys are his constant companions. Together, they brave deserts by cardboard box, cross treacherous couch bridges and dig to distant lands. Then, one day Oliver begins to feel different. A lost ball takes him through a new gate, where, against a pink sky, he meets Olivia. "It was the beginning of the best adventure he'd ever had." It doesn't matter that Oliver is different, because "Olivia [is] a bit different too." Like artists such as Lane Smith or Tim Burton, Sif has a distinctive style, a particular way of expressing the world that feels like a natural expression of herself. Her pencil drawings are done in a muted, cool-color palette. With Oliver's journey, she takes readers from an urban environment filled with pencil marks and gray images to a sparser, outdoor environment in which her marks are looser and the colors quietly bloom. A lovely gift--aglow with warmth and welcome--for those who feel, or have ever felt, different. (Picture book. 4-8)

ALA Booklist (Mon Oct 01 00:00:00 CDT 2012)

On this title's opening spread, children are introduced to Oliver, a bespectacled young lad who feels "a bit different." He is depicted riding in a car, holding his stuffed green dinosaur, which doesn't make him seem unusual in the slightest, particularly since things are much, much stranger around him: for instance, a woman on her bike pulls along a mouse in a wagon. Turns out Oliver's quirk is that he enjoys solitude, and he hangs out with the aforementioned dinosaur, a bow-tie-wearing teddy bear, and a purple stuffed . . . thingy. Together they are subject to Oliver's flights of imagination and have all sorts of adventures around the house. But boys and toys can't do everything together r some activities, you need a friend with a heartbeat. While Sif's debut sometimes feels jumpy in terms of the text's pacing, the artwork, with its loose pencil lines and pretty shades of indigo and mauve, depicts quirky family members and small, amusing details. In fact, the kooky characters are a great reminder to kids that everybody is wonderfully weird in their own way.

Horn Book

An omniscient narrator explains that Oliver, who "felt a bit different," nevertheless lives "happily, with his friends." The subdued pencil and digitally colored illustrations show those "friends" to be hand puppets, intimating his loneliness. This deeply felt and ultimately uplifting book will be a gift to children who feel like Oliver--and illuminating to those who know someone like him.

Kirkus Reviews (Fri Oct 04 00:00:00 CDT 2024)

A delightful tale about a boy who is different and his discovery of a kindred spirit, gracefully written to celebrate dreamers and readers--and those who need not change to find friends. Oliver lives happily in his imagination; puppets and toys are his constant companions. Together, they brave deserts by cardboard box, cross treacherous couch bridges and dig to distant lands. Then, one day Oliver begins to feel different. A lost ball takes him through a new gate, where, against a pink sky, he meets Olivia. "It was the beginning of the best adventure he'd ever had." It doesn't matter that Oliver is different, because "Olivia [is] a bit different too." Like artists such as Lane Smith or Tim Burton, Sif has a distinctive style, a particular way of expressing the world that feels like a natural expression of herself. Her pencil drawings are done in a muted, cool-color palette. With Oliver's journey, she takes readers from an urban environment filled with pencil marks and gray images to a sparser, outdoor environment in which her marks are looser and the colors quietly bloom. A lovely gift--aglow with warmth and welcome--for those who feel, or have ever felt, different. (Picture book. 4-8)

Publishers Weekly (Fri Oct 06 00:00:00 CDT 2023)

Bespectacled Oliver is a loner, and his loyal stuffed animals make good companions for most of his solitary activities. In muted shades of gray and lavender, newcomer Sif draws Oliver riding on a cardboard box at the head of a line of toys, each perched on its own sofa pillow: -They searched for treasure and rode camels through the desert.- Oliver-s preference for solitude is highlighted by his surroundings-while Oliver does his own thing at the pool, library, or dining room, everyone around him is grouped in twos and threes, holding hands, making eye contact, and reading or playing together. Yet sometimes Oliver needs something that he can-t get from his stuffed animals: -One evening, he played the piano for his friends, but no one listened.- Oliver-s discovery of a friend who-s been there all along (and who can be seen in many of the spreads with her own stuffed toy) is predictable, but Sif has a firm grasp of the possibilities of the picture book form, and her debut-s gentle humor promises good work to come. Ages 4-8. (Oct.)

School Library Journal

K-Gr 3 Oliver asks many questions: How do planes stay up in the sky; can penguins live in our fridge? And he especially wants to know what is down the tub drainhe can hear something gurgling. So Oliver makes a cardboard submarine and dives down the drain. There he finds a large ship filled with vacationing penguins who slurp their drinks and fly around whenever they want. Waitpenguins can't fly—funless, of course, they have jet packs. Oliver's imaginary adventures finally take him back home where he decides to build a jet pack. The comical pictures, done in ink, watercolor, and pastels, enhance this amusing story of a young boy with a gift for imaginary escape and unquenchable curiosity. Oliver is a quirky but charming little handful. He is also inquisitive and a role model for children who have lost enthusiasm for learning and who have sleepy imaginations. This picture book would be a great addition to most collections, and it would pair well with other titles that stimulate curiosity, such as Michael Hall's Perfect Square (HarperCollins, 2011), Peter Brown's The Curious Garden (Little, Brown, 2009), or Alice McLarren's Roxaboxen (HarperCollins, 1991).— Mary Hazelton, Elementary Schools in Union, Washington &; Waldoboro, ME