Have fun with Olivia...dressing up, singing songs, building sand castles, napping (maybe), dancing, painting on walls and — whew! — going to sleep at last.
— Jessica Wood from Northshire Bookstore in Manchester Center, Vt., told TDmonthly in a Winter 2012 survey that Olivia books are perennial bestsellers.

Written by Doreen Cronin and illustrated by Betsy Lewin, this book received the 2007 Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Platinum Award. Launch date: August 2006.

Everyone’s favorite Caldecott-winning porcine diva is back. When she finds out that the evening’s fireworks display will not have a band, she can’t understand why not. How can there be fireworks without a band? And so Olivia sets to putting a band together herself... all by herself. Using pots, pans, her brother’s toys and even her father’s suspenders, Olivia forms a band spectacular enough to startle any audience. Brought to life in Ian Falconer’s signature style, here is Olivia doing what Olivia does best —  making noise.

Katie, a first generation Japanese-American girl, moves with her family to Georgia, where her parents struggle to earn a living and care for Katie’s sister, Lynn, who becomes ill with lymphoma.

--Published February 2004, this novel is the winner of the 2005 Newbery Medal from the American Library Association.
--It sits at #2 on Barnes & Noble.com’s bestseller list for readers ages 9 to12.
--This is Cynthia Kadohata’s first novel for middle grades.