Olive and the Embarrassing Gift

Olive

by Tor Freeman

Olive discovers the true price of friendship.

Olive’s best friend, Joe, has bought her a special hat. The only problem is that it’s hideously, cringe-inducingly embarrassing! Their whole gang of friends is giggling about it. She tries all kinds of excuses to avoid wearing the hat, then all kinds of ways to get rid of it, until Joe catches her stuffing it into the trash. He’s totally heartbroken. How can Olive make it up to him? Shoving the hat back on her head, she’s off to create something even more embarrassing — a huge best-friends sign to wear proudly.

Genres: Picture Books, Friendship, Childrens, Animals, Storytime, Humor

32 pages, Hardcover

First published August 1, 2014

About the author

Tor Freeman has been writing and illustrating books for children for more than ten years. She lives in West London.

Reviews

[kim · Rating 2 out of 5]

my problems with this book:
1) the hat wasn't even embarrassing
2) nothing addressed the fact that the other kids were making fun of her
3) the ending wasn't the best resolution in my opinion, in fact, Olive went on to make fun of someone else.

[Amanda Saylor · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is definitely a book for kindergarten or first grade students. However, I absolutely loved this book! It is about a girl, Olive, who receives a gift from her friend, Joe. The gift is a hat that says "best friends". Olive is embarrassed to wear the gift because all of her friends chuckle when they see Olive and Joe wearing matching hats. Olive wants to not wear the hat but chooses an inappropriate way to handle this and later feels bad about it. So she makes up for it by wearing a sign that says "Olive and Joe are best friends." Her friends laugh at her this time as well but Olive doesn't care. This is a book that could be used to discuss true friendships with your students. It could also be used to discuss how to appropriately handle the situation when you receive a gift that you do not like. I would specifically use it for one of my students who just says what is on her mind and doesn't think about how it may make the other person feel. The person could analyze why Joe felt the way he did and how Olive could have handled it differently.

[Edward Sullivan · Rating 2 out of 5]

True friendship, among other things, is pretending to love a truly dreadful gift.

[Rose Rosetree · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tor's quirky sense of humor is on offer splendidly in this Olive adventure.

What would Olive do about a sweet gift from a friend, a sweet gift that nonetheless leaves a sour taste in Olive's mouth? Everything but tell her friend Joe directly, that's what she does.

Olive had NOT been a good friend to Joe. I'll say!

I'll give this embarrassing book FIVE STARS, because it's cute, and I can see how some readers would love it. However...

PERSONALLY???

I'm a big fan of telling people the truth. How much less hurtful it is to tell somebody like Joe, "You're a wonderful friend but I don't care for the hat." (Just compare that with all the lies and prevarications and excuses and weirdnesses that come from NOT telling the truth.)

Granted, many folks clearly believe it is better to tell little lies. I've seen many a book, including chicklit books, that find humor in how truth-avoidance complicates life. Well, may folks who enjoy living that way... have a wonderful time with this book.

Personally, I have plenty of friends. All my friendships are free of cute lying. Because some folks, not just me, prefer living that way.

[Cindy Mitchell *Kiss the Book* · Rating 3 out of 5]

Freeman, Tor Olive and the Embarrassing Gift. PICTURE BOOK. Candlewick Press, 2014. $15.99.

Olive and Joe are best friends. Joe gave Olive a gift that contained matching hats. “They say BEST FRIENDS on them, because that’s what we are.” Joe is very excited about his gift for Olive. Olive is not so sure she likes the hat and when other friends make fun of her, she tries to hide the hat and eventually puts it in the garbage. Joe comes by just in time to witness Olive throwing away the hat and his feelings are hurt. Olive knows that somehow she needs to make up for hurting Joe’s feelings.

Read to find how Olive makes amends and whether or not Joe is accepting of her apology. This is a cute book about friendship and apologies. The illustrations are fun. Pre-K.

EL (K-3). OPTIONAL. Reviewer: SL.
http://kissthebook.blogspot.com/2018/...

[Mrs Heidrich · Rating 3 out of 5]

A story that could really generate some discussion on the topic of friendship and what it means to be a good friend. This would be a good introduction to discussing honesty in friendships as well and when and how to do that kindly so as not to hurt someone's feelings. I didn't like the addition of the last page showing her making fun of someone else (calling him "silly") after kids had made fun of her in the story for wearing the gift given to her by her best friend.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

Or "Those who matter don't mind, and those who mind don't matter"

[Kylee · Rating 3 out of 5]

Book about friendship and pride. Olive is embarrassed about the gift but loves it and shows it off at the end.

[Chrisanne · Rating 2 out of 5]

A good moral but it's pretty blunt and didn't give me any tools for similar situations.

[Andrea · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a cute story of kindness, friendship, and consideration of others’ feelings.

[Lauri Meyers · Rating 4 out of 5]

Olive's bff gives her an embarrassing gift. When her friends laugh at her, she throws away the gift. To make it up to her bff, she makes a bold statement with a sign.

[Jill Stark · Rating 5 out of 5]

Have you ever received an embarrassing gift from someone? (Pause) In this book, Olive and the Embarrassing Gift by Tor Freeman, this is exactly what happened. Joe got matching best friend hats for Olive and himself. He wants everyone to know that they are best friends, but Olive isn’t sure that she likes the hat. Especially, when friends see them and laugh. How would this make you feel? (Pause) What do you think Olive will do with her hat? (Pause) Let’s read the story and see how close your guesses are to what Olive actually does.

My opening moves are: prompting predictions, activate background knowledge, invite personal connections, and raise questions in the readers’ minds.

I chose this book, because it shows children how to handle a tricky situation with best friends and social peers. Olive didn’t know if she liked the hat Joe gave her, especially when peers laughed at her for wearing it. The more people laughed, the more Olive didn’t want the hat. So, she decided to try to get rid of it, and Joe caught her! Joe was really hurt and Olive had a choice to make. Did she give up her best friend over a silly hat, or did she decide that her friendship to Joe was more important than the silly hat. This book shows that a good friend is important, and being a good friend is important too. Also, sometimes that we have to have courage in front of our peers to do the right thing. This story builds upon the first book, knowing that it is okay to try something new. Be brave, and don’t worry about how others see you.

[Emmaline MacBeath · Rating 5 out of 5]

Joe and Olive are friends. Joe gives Olive a matching hat for Christmas. It says "Best Friends" on it. But everywhere she goes, others laugh at the hat Olive is wearing. She becomes embarrassed and desperate and tries to get rid of the gift. But Joe sees her throwing the hat away and begins to cry. Olive realizes she was not being a very good friend. She takes the hat out of the trash, puts it on and then goes to make a sign to wear that says, "Olive and Joe are best friends." The others still laughed, but Olive didn't care. She had her best friend back.

The illustrations in this book are simple, but colorful. The story line is fairly simple as well. I love the message, that the friend is more important than the gift. I love when Olive wears her hat proudly. Being a good friend means sometimes doing what your friend wants rather than what you want.

This book is advertized for grades preschool-3. Some preschoolers and kindergarteners will not understand the deeper emotions of the story. But grades 1-3 definitely.

[Becky · Rating 4 out of 5]

First sentence: Joe gave Olive a gift. "They're matching hats!" said Joe. "And they say BEST FRIENDS on them, because that's what we are."

Premise/plot: Olive does not love, love, love her gift from Joe. She finds the BEST FRIENDS hat to be embarrassing. In fact, wearing this "everyday hat" down the street makes EVERYONE laugh at Olive. So what will she do?!

My thoughts: I really enjoyed OLIVE and the BAD MOOD. This book is just as fun in many ways. When Olive accidentally-on-purpose hurts Joe's feelings, she knows that she HAS to make amends. She does love Joe. And she does consider him to be her best friend. I thought her solution was creative, and it definitely worked for these friends.

There are many books about making friends. There aren't quite as many books about staying friends--fighting and making up again. So it is always nice to see books that show the many, many, many sides of friendship.

Text: 4 out of 5
Illustration: 4 out of 5
Total: 8 out of 10

[Barbara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Just about everyone has received a carefully-chosen gift from someone who is just sure it's the perfect gift. But it turns out the recipient hates the gift. In this case, Joe gives Olive a matching best friend hat to go with his own. Their friends tease them and Olive bows to the pressure, throwing away the hat, and hurting Olive's feelings. Olive must decide what matters most to her--keeping Joe's friendship and or being teased by the others. After all, what would a best friend do? The mixed media illustrations complement the simple storyline quite well. This book is perfect for sharing with youngsters during a lesson on friendship. Sometimes being a friend means owning up to your mistakes and taking it on the chin to defend your friends. Sometimes, as in this case, it means wearing an embarrassing hat.

[Erica · Rating 4 out of 5]

We've all been there. We've received a gift that we are less than thrilled about from a dear friend. A gift that's a bit embarrassing but we wear it or keep it anyway because it's from our friend.

Olive receives a new hat from her friend Joe, it's a matching hat that says "Best Friends" on the front. Other animals around town snicker as they walk by together and Olive decides she can't handle the humiliation and gets rid of the hat, just as Joe walks up. Olive realizes she's hurt Joe's feelings and digs the hat out of the garbage. To make it up to Joe, she decides to make a big sign that says, "Olive and Joe are best friends."

A sweet book about friendship but also about receiving those gifts that we may not like but mean a lot because they are from a dear friend.

Read to Iris: January 24, 2015

[Susan Brody · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was waiting for this book to have a twist or different ending to teach a real lesson. I felt the author missed a great opportunity to teach something great--about being honest to your friends. While I get the point that sometimes we do things we don't like (in this case, wear a hat you don't particularly like) to please our friends, I just felt like that wasn't the right lesson for Olive (and the reader) to learn. Perhaps Olive could have learned to not be so influenced when others laughed at her hat and stood up for her friend who had made it. I don't know...I wanted to love this book (had found it on a list about books that are good to use in school to teach kindness), but it fell flat for me.

[Kelsey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Age: Preschool-1st grade

When Olive is gifted an awkward fitting, unusual hat by Joe, all the other kids laugh at her. When Joe sees Olive stuffing it in the trash can, he walks away hurt. But Olive decides to make an obnoxiously large sign to wear around that proclaims "Olive and Joe are best friends" and she looks "really silly now." Although the message is honest (portraying a friend's well-intentioned gift as ugly) there is no mention of any redeeming qualities of it, just that Olive doesn't like to see Joe being sad. Sometimes we have to sacrifice our image to show our dedication to our friends.

[Marilyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Olive wears the embarrassing gift hat made by her friend Joe until others laugh and ridicule. When Olive attempts to pitch the hat, Joe’s feelings are hurt. Rather than hurt her friend, Olive retrieves the hat and proclaims their friendship. Lessons of friendship and loyalty resonate in this simple story told with comical animal characters. The large print text and full page pictures invite this book to story time. This is a welcome addition to any preschool library. This book was provided by the publisher for professional review to SWON libraries

[Teresa Reads · Rating 5 out of 5]

Though the reading level is 1-2, all grades could learn an important lesson about friendship by reading this book. Olive has a true friend named Joe. He gives her a silly hat to wear. Olive feels embarrassed and her need to look good for others causes her to forget the value of a good friend. The illustrations are delightful too. I recommend it to readers of all ages.

[The Brothers · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a completely charming book about being embarrassed by a gift from a best friend. Olive truly loves her best friends, but all the flak she's getting because he gave her a somewhat odd hat is almost too much for her to bear. In the end she realizes that friendship is more important than what other people think.

Cute illustrations.

[Mo · Rating 4 out of 5]

mummy says this is one of the strangest books she had ever read but I really like it. mummy explains the story as she reads it otherwise the meaning would go over my head. this book has helped me learn that it is good to be nice to your friends and not to be horrible. (2yrs 9mths)

[Monica · Rating 3 out of 5]

I feel like this would need to be a title for older children who can understand the abstract emotions in the book and the embarrassment over wearing something that feels silly.

[Marissa Elera · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really and truly well crafted and funny. I love the Olive books.

[Wilde Sky · Rating 4 out of 5]

A friend gives someone an embarrassing hat.

This book for young children was delightful, with a sweet story and good moral theme.

[Melanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book would be great to use with discussions around friendship and feelings.

[David · Rating 2 out of 5]

Maybe friends shouldn't make friends wear stupid matching hats, eh?