"Olive All At Once" by Mariam Gates is a tender and insightful picture book that beautifully captures the complexity of children's emotions. Through the endearing character of Olive, young readers are invited to explore the nuanced and sometimes contradictory feelings that arise in various situations.

As Olive navigates the ups and downs of everyday life, from the excitement and apprehension of the first day of school to the mix of joy and jealousy at a friend's birthday party, Gates skillfully portrays the rich tapestry of emotions that children experience. Olive's candid reflections on her relationship with her little sister further highlight the multifaceted nature of emotions, as she grapples with feelings of both gladness and frustration.

What sets "Olive All At Once" apart is its compassionate and empowering message about embracing and accepting all of our emotions. Gates gently encourages young readers to acknowledge and honor their feelings, even when they seem contradictory or overwhelming. By normalizing the experience of feeling multiple emotions at once, the book fosters social-emotional intelligence and resilience in children.

The illustrations by Mariam Gates complement the text beautifully, capturing Olive's emotional journey with warmth and sensitivity. Each page is alive with expressive characters and vibrant colors, inviting readers to immerse themselves in Olive's world and empathize with her experiences.

Overall, "Olive All At Once" is a heartfelt and empowering book that celebrates the richness of human emotions. Through Olive's story, children learn that it's okay to feel different and sometimes opposite emotions all at the same time. With its valuable lessons and engaging storytelling, this book is a must-have addition to any child's library, encouraging them to embrace their feelings and navigate life's ups and downs with courage and compassion.

A great book about emotions. Olive walks us through so many emotions and how they can be contradictory at times. This would be perfect to read to a child and to discuss each of the emotions.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the arc.

'Olive All At Once' by Mariam Gates is an enchanting book about a little girl with big feelings and how it is okay to have them all at once! Most kids will relate and olive is quirky and endearing.

Olive All At Once is about a young girl with a lot of feelings. This book is relatable, easy to read, and full of colorful illustrations. Perfect for young children who are navigating their emotions as they grow.

I received an ARC from Sounds True Publishing | Sounds True via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Great little book that opens up the converstiaon of the complexity of feelings for the youngest of children. This could be a great conversation starters for adult caretakers with the children in their life about how they are doing about different aspects or changes in their life. Using Olive as the main character also helps personalize the emotions and I can easily see how parents could refer to Olive and how she might feel in a given situation, if it is hard for a child to identify their own emotions about something.
The art style was lovely as well and the use of colors facilitated the understanding of these complex feelings.

This book is a mix of learning and fun, easy to read, amazing illustrations.
I think this book will show to the children emotions and help them understand them. Overall, I think kids will love it.

This is a great picture book about emotions and how we can have contradicting emotions at the same time - it's a great book to open discussions with the little one about emotions, identifying them and understanding them.

There is no narrative story per se, the book follows Olive and a narrator as they narrate how Olive is feeling in various situations, to which Olive reply about the other emotions she has. It's a funny dialogue.

The illustrations are very cute too, brightly coloured but in a harmonious way.

This is a beautifully illustrated book for children to help them understand their emotions. So many books will talk about various emotions, but this one deals with the reality that we will have contradictory emotions at the same time. Children need help understanding that they may be happy and jealous at the same time.

This was cute, and I liked the message. Olive is a likable main character with very relatable problems and feelings for a girl her age. Her book would be a good way to teach children about conflicting emotions.

In a Nutshell: A sweet picture book that explains how having multiple emotions at once is perfectly okay. Great idea, good execution.

Olive is a little girl with a lot of feelings. When she was a baby, her feelings were neatly compartmentalized. But now, she feels multiple feelings at once, and she knows that it is perfectly okay.

This picture book tackles the complicated concept of experiencing diverse emotions at once. When Olive says that her feelings are jumbled up, we see that she always has at least two dominant feelings. But these are never from the same side of the emotional spectrum, such as happy + excited, or nervous + upset. Rather, her sentiments are usually opposite, being a combination of a positive and a negative mood. This contradiction shows children how it is perfectly normal to feel opposite emotions at once.

So many situations in life generate contrary feelings, whether the first day of school or having a new sibling or going on stage. This book will hopefully help kids understand that there is nothing wrong if a negative emotion rears its head alongside a positive feeling.

The narrative pattern of the story is interesting. There is no story as such here. An unidentified narrator introduces us to Olive and tells us about her feelings. At the same time, Olive responds to the narrator’s comments from the illustrations, and clarifies or rectifies the remarks made about her feelings. This approach makes it fun to read Olive’s interjections in between the main narrative.

However, this also means that Olive explores her feelings over multiple events, and we have to follow her train of thought. There is no sequence to the events. The structure might be confusing for kids to follow.

Moreover, the focus is only on information about contrary emotions, but the story doesn’t tackle the quantum of emotions. What I mean is, a child might experience two opposite feelings at once, but they both needn’t be at the same level of intensity. For instance, a child’s stage fright might be more than their excitement at performing before an audience. How does the child harness the positive energy rather than allowing the negative emotions to dominate? This goes beyond the purview of the book.

There are a couple of difficult words in this book, plus the story pattern is also not conventional. Some of the pages have a lot of text, though the layout makes them appear clutter-free. As the book is aimed at little ones aged 4-8, the younger ones of this age range might find their comprehension impeded by these factors. Adult guidance will be beneficial.

The illustrations are cute and colourful. I loved Olive’s gravity-defying plaits! 😄

Recommended, but not as a must-read. This book could work well for classroom discussions. I don’t think it would be that beneficial to home libraries, as the approach makes it more about information than about constructive action.

3.5 stars.


My thanks to Sounds True Publishing and NetGalley for the DRC of “Olive All At Once”. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.

Olive all at once is a story of a young girl, Olive. It's her first day at school and she is excited as well as nervous. And it makes her wonder how she feels two opposite feelings at the same time.

This is cute and adorable little story which will help young kids to overcome fear of first day of school.

Thank you Netgalley and sounds true publishing for ARC in exchange of an honest review.

This is a cute story about Olive, a preschooler, who experiences a range of emotions. Sometimes she has conflicting emotions. The illustrations are engaging and the situations are familiar to small children and their families. The story has several vignettes that might stimulate conversations and emotions and behaviors, both positive and negative. I think this would be a great addition to a family, daycare, or preschool library. I thank NetGalley and Sounds True for the opportunity to read this ARC.

Thank you so much to Sounds True Publishing and Netgalley for the ebook to read and review.

Olive has feelings, lots of them but sometimes she feels them together and all her emotions become a jumble with too much going on.

This was such a perfect way to showcase to children the ways emotions can overcome you in multiple ways, how you can feel one important feeling and another will come join it even if you don’t want it there.

I liked the story, Olive was adorable and how she kept talking to the storyteller to share exactly what emotions she was feeling and why she was feeling them. She was so sweet, I liked the way everything was explained and the adorable illustrations along with it all.

This is a great book to share with children, it’s a good way to be teaching about emotions but in a fun and easier way. I really enjoyed this sweet book and how easy it would be for children to understand and follow along with it.

This book is about an adorable little girl who feels her feelings all at once. She learns how emotions aren’t always binary and can be mixed together at any point of the day. It can be used as a great conversation starter with your little one or a classroom full of feelings. I highly recommend adding it to your collection for any pre-school or elementary age targeted library.

Feelings are sometimes hard to understand. I like how this book talks about all the different feeling you can feel not just by themselves but at the same time. What a great book to help kids cope with their ever changing feelings.

This is a great book to help young children understand their emotions. It also shows that it's okay to have several emotions at once. The illustrations are very cute as well. This is a wonderful book for little ones.

This book is filled with big emotions. It would be great for kids to read to understand all the mixed emotions we feel and that it's ok. The images were nice and colorful. It touched on a lot of issues a small child might experience.

Olive All At Once by Mariam Gates
Illustrations by: Allison Hawkins
ISBN: 9781649631749
Publish Date: March 2024

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this digital ebook ARC of Olive All At Once by Mariam Gates and publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Olive learns that it’s okay to feel different and sometimes opposite emotions all at the same time. 
In this illustrated picture book, Olive experiences contradictory emotions. The first day of school is exciting but also scary. When she attends a friend’s birthday party, she is delighted for him but also jealous that the presents aren’t for her. And when she thinks about her little sister, she’s both glad and mad—for lots of reasons. Olive helps young readers explore the sometimes-contradictory ways they feel about significant events in their lives. Building social-emotional intelligence in children helps them to allow all of their emotions to coexist inside them. It’s part of being human to feel many different ways—all at once.

This book had bright and cute illustrations. I found this book to be very confusing the way it was written. I found this book to be ALOT. For the age range that it is targeted towards, I found it to be too much. The book goes through different emotions with the character Olivia.

I give this book a rating of 3 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️

#OliveAllAtOnce #NetGalley

The lessons were clear, but took precedence over the story of Olive. I can see teachers using this book in their classroom, but I can't see students choosing to read this on their own just for enjoyment. It will be useful, but not particularly fun.

This is great for littles and their feelings. It shows them that it is ok to feel all the feels at once, separately and how to sort them out. I think the author did a good job, and the illustrations were spot on as well.