Olivia Wrapped in Vines

Olivia Wrapped in Vines is a matter-of-fact description of a condition (anxiety) and some useful coping methods; an example of an incident and its subsequent solution; and an invitation to consider whether the reader might have similar responses, and when those might occur.

Olivia has anxiety (it isn’t named as such) which manifests as thorny vines that wrap all around her, turning her into “a big, spiky ball that no one wants to be near.” There can be triggers, such as stressful events (being late, a fight with a friend, going to the dentist), but sometimes the vines grow without a discernible reason. Olivia’s teacher, Solange, is very supportive and has already practiced breathing exercises, which can help with her. One day, Olivia’s class goes to the pool, and Olivia panics because she is both afraid to jump off the springboard and afraid that her fear will be mocked as well as experiencing anger from her teacher and parents. Solange does not push Olivia to explain herself but allows her to come down from the springboard without jumping off. Later in math, when Olivia still has trouble with her vines and the usual breathing exercises don’t help, Solange instructs Olivia to visualize her vines and then imagine herself chopping them down. After an imaginary vine-cutting sequence, the two discuss Olivia’s incident at the pool, and Solange assures Olivia that she is not angry and that they can try to do better next time. The final spread shows Olivia smiling on her bike and includes the same opening paragraph that Olivia used in introducing herself, that she has a bicycle, red shoes, a lion stuffie, and vines...but she is learning to live with the vines. The last page acts as an author’s note and activity section, explaining what anxiety is and encouraging readers to discuss what makes them anxious, asking if they have stuffies that comfort them on bad days, and providing ideas for making up fun-and-friendly nicknames like those Solange uses for Olivia.

Originally written in French, Olivia Wrapped in Vines is capably translated by Charles Simard. The tone is straightforward, and the vocabulary is simple. The front matter states that the illustrations were done in watercolor, markers and ink; to me it looks like the textures were created in these media and then digitally manipulated to create the illustrations, but I’m no expert. There are no harsh boundaries to the images, and the overall impression is of a soft, bright fuzziness that is as reassuring as a supersoft stuffie. The color palette is warm and soft: creams, yellows, oranges, browns, and greens. Even the vines, while thorny, are muted colors like pea green. If I may venture a guess, I would say that this style of illustration could have been chosen to lessen the visual stimuli and provide a more comfortable reading experience for sensitive children for whom the vivid, high-contrast illustration style popular in some children’s books can feel like too much.

Teacher Solange, who tailors her actions to Olivia’s comfort level and is gently encouraging without being demanding, provides a good model of behavior for adults interacting with sensitive or anxious children. For children, Olivia Wrapped in Vines accomplishes that difficult balance between being specific about a particular condition and not trivializing it by generalizing anxiety into the sort of nerves any child might have while, at the same time, also building common ground such that readers without anxiety can still easily empathize with Olivia. With a knowledgeable facilitator to encourage discussion and reflection, Olivia Wrapped in Vines would make good classroom or storytime reading so long as care is taken that no one child is singled out as the only one ‘like Olivia’ or ‘with vines’.