Olive All At Once - Mariam Gates - ★★★.½

AUTHOR: Mariam Gates

ILLUSTRATOR: Alison Hawkins

GENRE: Children's Picture Book

PUBLICATION DATE: April 30, 2024

RATING: 3.5 stars.

In a Nutshell: A sweet picture book that explains how having multiple emotions at once is perfectly okay. Great idea, good execution.

Olive is a little girl with a lot of feelings. When she was a baby, her feelings were neatly compartmentalised. But now, she feels multiple feelings at once, and she knows that it is perfectly okay.

This picture book tackles the complicated concept of experiencing diverse emotions at once. When Olive says that her feelings are jumbled up, we see that she always has at least two dominant feelings. But these are never from the same side of the emotional spectrum, such as happy + excited, or nervous + upset. Rather, her sentiments are usually opposite, being a combination of a positive and a negative mood. This contradiction shows children how it is perfectly normal to feel opposite emotions at once.

So many situations in life generate contrary feelings, whether the first day of school or having a new sibling or going on stage. This book will hopefully help kids understand that there is nothing wrong if a negative emotion rears its head alongside a positive feeling.

The narrative pattern of the story is interesting. There is no story as such here. An unidentified narrator introduces us to Olive and tells us about her feelings. At the same time, Olive responds to the narrator’s comments from the illustrations, and clarifies or rectifies the remarks made about her feelings. This approach makes it fun to read Olive’s interjections in between the main narrative.

However, this also means that Olive explores her feelings over multiple events, and we have to follow her train of thought. There is no sequence to the events. The structure might be confusing for kids to follow.

Moreover, the focus is only on information about contrary emotions, but the story doesn’t tackle the quantum of emotions. What I mean is, a child might experience two opposite feelings at once, but they both needn’t be at the same level of intensity. For instance, a child’s stage fright might be more than their excitement at performing before an audience. How does the child harness the positive energy rather than allowing the negative emotions to dominate? This goes beyond the purview of the book.

There are a couple of difficult words in this book, plus the story pattern is also not conventional. Some of the pages have a lot of text, though the layout makes them appear clutter-free. As the book is aimed at little ones aged 4-8, the younger ones of this age range might find their comprehension impeded by these factors. Adult guidance will be beneficial.

The illustrations are cute and colourful. I loved Olive’s gravity-defying plaits! 😄

Recommended, but not as a must-read. This book could work well for classroom discussions. I don’t think it would be that beneficial to home libraries, as the approach makes it more about information than about constructive action.

My thanks to Sounds True Publishing and NetGalley for the DRC of “Olive All At Once”. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.