Olive and Her Lost Friend

Olive and Her Lost Friend

Author: Darlene Boll

Illustrated: Charity Hoover

Grade Level: 1&2nd

Pages: 176

            I was searching for some simple first reader chapter books, and I remember reading Olive when I was a child. I decided to see if there were more books in the series. To my delight, I found a few more! Honestly, I’m usually skeptical about this kind of book because they often are boring and have terrible grammar and sentence structure. Let me just say that I was pleasantly surprise and recommend this book highly! Sure it does not have a wide vocabulary and tends to be repetitious, but children will identify with Olive. Also, it’s valuable to give your new readers books that they can read without needing to sort through truth and false theories.

            This book follows Olive through her normal life. We are introduced to her favorite goat, Daisy. Then Daisy goes missing. Will they be able to find Daisy and will she return? A few days later, their family welcomes company for supper. Daisy learns how to be a good friend and what fun you can have with new and old friends. New readers will enjoy Olive’s adventures and will learn new skills and lessons.