I read this book by myself as well as with my children. The illustrations are beautiful and they kept my youngest engaged with the colours and the detail. I loved the story and the teachable moments throughout the book. I can definitely see this becoming a children’s series with Olive and Ginger teaching our children more about the world and the situations we may find ourselves in.
Thank you to the Publisher, Netgalley and the author for a gorgeous book that I will read over and over with my children.

Thanks Netgalley and the publisher for the ACR in exchange for my honest review.

Okay, this story is so cute and I love the illustrations. The illustrations are watercolored! You can tell so much time went into this. The frog and the cat become friends so heartwarming. This is a book that you can read to your kids or students it is great because the pictures really pull you in. If you have an older kid they can try reading on their own since it does have a lot of words!

This is a set of three stories that are similar to Frog and Toad. The first story is about a hungry frog who happens upon a curious cat, the second is about the two singing together (I had a good laugh at the last line of that story about people believing the area is haunted because of the noises), and the third is about water/bathtime and how the two animals differ in how they see water and understand the cat's owner giving the cat a bath. The stories illicit humor from wordplay and misunderstandings between the animals. The illustrations are traditional paintings. I love the cultural patterns adorning the cat's fur. This is a fun, sweet book about an unlikely friendship and it is written and illustrated by a single family.

Note: I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley. I was not compensated in any other fashion for the review and the opinions reflected below are entirely my own. Special thanks to the publisher and author for providing the copy.

This was a cute story of a toad and cat befriending each other, having adventures, and telling stories of their time away from each other. I loved the concept and illustrations were very pretty. The description gives them names but they aren’t used much in the story rather frequently being called Cat and Toad instead. I would say this is great for ages 2-5. Thank you to Xenia Mesot for the first of many books I hope with these cute characters and thank you BooksGoSocial for the arc.

Olive and Ginger are Toad and Cat in this delightful book. Three stories are told, in an old-fashioned, fable style, of the Cat and the Toad figuring out the world together. The first story, "Acquaintance" offers introductions and explores the framework of the relationship of one to another through Toad's experience. The second story, "Duet" is all about kindness, and the third "Fresh Eye" is all about looking a situations through a differing perspective.

The artwork in Olive and Ginger is stunning, from the fluid motion of Cat to the little details scattered throughout: the plants and the butterflies.

There is a real "old world" charm to this book, and I hope to see more stories of wise Toad and kind Cat.

~~Many thanks to NetGalley for an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.~~

The pictures for the story are very well done however the stories aren't very... Interesting nor do they make that much sense

A great little early chapter book, still with plenty of beautiful illustrations. Perfect for those wanting a little lengthier read. My daughter is a real cat lover so enjoyed this book very much. It's a gentle story telling of friendship which could easily be used to discuss habitats and food life cycles in a delicate way.

Outstanding artwork. Several quick stories to be enjoyed at one sitting or read over several nights. Stories are engaging. An entertaining read for young and old alike. Thanks #netgalley and #BooksGoSocial for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

What a great story and the illustrations are gorgeous. My children and I just love to read stories like this. I would recommend this books to everyone.

What a cute story! Olive and Ginger is a cute story about a frog and cat who become friends. It has beautiful illustrations to go with the story and my 3 year old great grand daughter loved it. Thank you BooksGoSocial via NetGalley for the complimentary copy of this book. All opinions expressed are my own.

This book had a good premise, but I did not love it. I think it had too much in it and was lost in translation a bit.

Olive and Ginger is a series of short stories about a cat and a toad. The stories are stand alone (but loosely related) making them stories you could read altogether in one sitting, or one at a time for a child with a shorter attention span. Each story is well thought out and succinct, and has a moral or lesson attached to it. The illustrations are soft and engaging, with them really appealing to the small child well.

Overall, this book would be great for age ranges from baby up to newly independent reader. With the stories being short, they would be able to be completed even for those children that can't sit still long enough to complete a full book. Due to the short length of each story, however, they could complete a whole story. Great approach.

Thank you to the author, illustrator, publisher and NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I love the illustrations so much!

It seems like a good dream. A story about acquaintances, a story of curiosity and knowledge.

I love how the story focuses on the appreciation of one being by another. The world is such a beautiful place it tells us. The story is fun to read. The characters are quite outspoken and lively. The toad and the cat are fun to learn with.

I feel the storybook can be much better if the lines and the fonts are bigger and more distinct.

Thank you, authors and the publisher, for the advance reading copy.

Xenia Mesot’s new book is a sweet story about Olive, a green toad, and Ginger, an orange cat. Throughout the book, the two creatures learn about one another, including difference and similarities. The wording in the book doesn’t always flow well, although that may be a language barrier. The illustrations in Olive and Ginger are lovely watercolors with elements of Slavic design sneaking in, reminiscent to an older style of children’s picture books. It’s a cute little book worthy of looking at when visiting the library.

I didn't love this book. now, keep in mind I am not an educator, so maybe there is a purpose to this writing style for older children, but I don't like how the words are so unnatural. Maybe this book is meant to teach kids to use "juicy words" as I learned them when writing? But in this story almost every other word is a pretty big descriptive word that typically wouldn't be used in writing, which disrupts the flow of the story. The pages are also pretty text heavy, which leaves small room for illustrations. I prefer when illustrations take up an entire page with he text overlaid on top, not small illustrations only taking up about 1/3 of the whole page.

This is the story of Olive and Ginger, a Toad and a Cat who meets and becomes friends. These two friends totally different from each other in every aspect talks about their interests, singing, about humans, seasons etc.

The stories are very interesting and funny especially the second story was humorous. I liked the inner conversations of both Toad and the Cat and what they thought about each other yet decided to remain silent so as not to hurt each other's feelings.

The illustrations were amazing and it attracts children very well. The writing, characters and story are so good that not just kids, the adults will love this book too. I recommend it to everyone to give it a read once.

Thanks Netgalley for the review copy in exchange for my honest review.

Illustrated by the Khristenkos, and written by Xenia Mesot, this book was sweet and fun, and amusing. It has more words than your usual book of this nature and for me that's a good thing. The illustrations are well-done, fun and engaging, and the story is an unusual, but entertaining one. My family used to have a cat named Ginger who was a wild and crazy girl. Ginger here is a boy and the toad is the girl. The two meet and find each other interesting enough to become friends.

The book is divided into three short chapters each on a different topic. The first is of course their meeting, and becoming friends. The curious thing about that is that they don't tell each other their names, and are known throughout simply as Toad and Cat. They discuss their interests, which in Toad's case seem largely to be her fantasies about dragonflies, and in Cat's case seem to be mice. Go figure!

They talk about their love of singing, and have a duet even though each thinks the other's voice could use some training. They discuss hygiene and Cat opines about being shampooed, which leads to an amusing discussion about what purpose it serves and how Cat tried to sabotage the process at one point.

The book was deliciously offbeat and very warming to read, and I commend it completely.

This book started cute. It's another Frog and Toad style early reader. Most of the story targets small kids, say kindergarten and first grade. But there a few things (like cat saying that his owner was swearing) that seem a bit mature for that particular age group. The illustrations are adorable and I like the interesting combination of a toad and a cat as friends.

Cute story of an unlikely friendship between a cat and a toad. That is about it, but I like the way they sang for each other and each thought the other's voice needed some work to improve their singing! Littles will appreciate the silliness of that if they know what frogs or toads sound like! I loved the illustrations, so sweet!

Olive and Ginger is a longer children's book about a Toad and a Cat who become friends. This book is wordier than the average childr na books, but it is divided into three story's which made it easy to read in sections with my LO who wasn't quite ready to sit through the entire book.