Books like Olivia Goes to Venice

look at all of my olivias!! the one in the middle who looks all dirty actually is very dirty, because she is supposed to be wearing red footie pajamas, but they keep falling off because she is a little nudist. bad olivia!anyway, look at that signature!!awesome ariel lied to ian falconer and told him i was a five-year-old girl (which makes me feel better because no girl my age should have this many stuffed olivias, and we haven't even photographed the olivia music box, the olivia alarm clock, the olivia bath toys, he olivia charm bracelet etc...) so he signed it both as himself ian falconer and as olivia the best pig ever.apparently he only signs as himself for adults. this lie was necessary.i have been told by more than one person that i share many attributes with olivia. i interpret this as a statement that i have a lot of enthusiasm, and a wide range of ideas and opinions. i am told that in fact, i am bossy and loud and adorable. i'll take what i can get - at least one of them is a compliment.in this book, olivia goes to venice and eats a ton of gelato and almost gets murdered by birds. (biiiiirdered)when i was in florence, i was the same way, w/r/t the gelato. i was an unstoppable gelato-eating machine. in venice, i ate zero gelato, but i displayed my olivia-ness by loudly questioning why everything was closed by 8. and why there was a mcdonalds. and why the bathrooms were just holes in the floor and how was i supposed to remove that much clothing when it was so freezing and aim myself gracefully. i am a lot of fun to travel with, believe me.while this book is an olivia book, and therefore perfect, i will say that i like the inclusion of all the photographs of venice less than the more usual style of falconer's books. it was a little more glossy and slick than i like in an olivia book. but the story is charming and it is a great xmas present and ariel is pretty awesome, i think.