Ian Falconer Books In Order

Publication Order of Olivia Books

Publication Order of Olivia Companion Books

Publication Order of Children's Books

Publication Order of Anthologies

Ian Falconer is a set designer, noted illustrator and bestselling author of children’s fiction works. He was born in Ridgefield, Connecticut in 1959, to The Cambridge School of Weston, and then to New York University where he studied art history.
Falconer has had a varied career as he has worked in the fine arts, publishing, ballet, and opera. In the publishing world, he is best known as the illustrator and author of the “Olivia” series, which has been one of his most popular.
He made his debut writing children’s fiction when he penned “Olivia,” the first of the “Olivia” series. The series follows the life and times of a young pig that he initially intended as only a gift for his young niece.

His illustrations have over the years been featured in many prestigious publications while he has also designed costumes and sets for a variety of institutions including the “Royal Opera House,” the “San Francisco Opera,” and the “New York City Ballet.”
Falconer currently makes his home in New York City.

Growing up, Ian Falconer loved reading books and had a few favorites. Some of his titles include “Sylvester and the Magic Pebble” by William Steig, “Higglety Pigglety Pop, Nutshell Library,” and “Where the Wild Things Are” by Maurice Sendak, “The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins” and “The Cat in the Hat” by Dr. Seuss.

In his teenage years, he went to the Otis Art Institute and the Parsons School of Design to study art. He would then work as a theatrical set and costume designer and illustrated covers for “The New Yorker” and “American Magazine.”
His earliest forays into designing for theater was when he worked with David Hockney the artist. During the 1980s, the two worked together designing costumes for the Los Angeles Opera.

In 1992, Falconer went solo to design the costumes for the Covent Garden-based production of the Die Frau Ohne Schatten of the Royal Opera. On his own, he designed the costumes and scenery for the “Firebird” production at the “Boston Ballet” in 1991.
He also designed “Variations Senieuses” in 2001, and the 1999 “Scenes de Ballet” all at “New York City Ballet.”

While he never set out to become a children’s fiction author, his children’s fiction works in the Olivia series have earned him many awards over the years.

“Olivia,” the first of the series was the winner of the Notable Children Books by the American Library Association in 2001, the Parent’s Choice Gold Winner in the year 2000, and the Caldecott honor in the year 2000.
Other notable honors that Ian Falconer has won include a Children’s Book of the Year by Booksense Illustrated, Best Children’s Book by Child’s Magzine in 2006, and a Children’s Choice Book Award favorite illustrator in 2008 the latter of which was voted by more than fifty thousand children.

“Olivia” the debut novel of the series is a brilliant work with a great story that is perfectly illustrated. The lead in the novel is a young piglet named Olivia that is the true embodiment of hyperactivity.

The work is based on the author’s real family life since he grew up with an elder sister who was very active as a child and was also named Olivia. Falconer makes Olivia the lead your ordinary very energetic kid, that loves trying out new things, even though her parents sometimes get fed up with dealing with such an energetic child.

The author also includes some creative and beautiful illustrations in white and black colors except for the lead’s clothes. Most of the time, Olivia is pictured wearing red clothing, which makes her particularly stand out from many of the other characters.
Readers will love the paintings that Olivia got to see when she went to the museum since these happen to be real paintings that you can still find in the museum.

It is a fun novel as Olivia dresses up, sings songs, builds sand castles, naps, dances, and paints on walls among other things.

Ian Falconer’s “Olivia Saves the Circus” follows Olivia at the circus.

At the opening, Olivia is preparing some breakfast for her brothers and herself but does not clean up the mess she made. The author shows the character’s bright red clothes strewn all over the floor while she is holding up a boring uniform she will have to wear.
But she is creative as she includes some bright accessories that include some bright red leggings, a purse, and bows. The entire novel contains the colors orange, red, white, and black which are painted on the circus tent.

Olivia says that since all of the people that run the circus had fallen ill with ear infections, she had to step in and run the circus. She says she knows everything the experts used to do.

She can walk the tightrope, walk on stilts, juggle, be a lion tamer, a clown, and even ride a unicycle. She deals with a whole bunch of circus animals including elephants and lions.
Falconer cleverly made one of the pages a flip book. This means you can turn over the page to more pictures that are a timeline of the many things that Olivia does. It all makes for a fun, adorable, and cute work of fiction.

“Olivia and the Missing Toy” continues to follow the young piglet Olivia whose days are spent practicing piano, waiting for grownups, reading books, and playing with household pets. Just at the moment her mother gifts her with a newly sewn football jersey, she realizes that she cannot find her favorite toy.

Upon a quick search, they find that the dog had found it and proceeded to rip a hole in it. Olivia had to deal with the pain of losing her toy but she makes use of her creativity to fix it making it even much better than it was before.
Similar to the previous novels, this is an absolutely funny laugh-out-loud story and Ian Falconer shows his brilliance in capturing the simultaneously sweet and stubborn attributes of his little heroine.

He is also gifted at portraying the mother who is sometimes loving and sometimes appalled at the actions of Olivia. He combines this with gouache and charcoal artwork, to capture some hilarious details as well as add many of his own.