What it’s like to be immortalized as a pig.

Read all of Slate’s stories about the 25 Greatest Picture Books of the Past 25 Years.

Back when Ian Falconer’s Olivia was published in 2000, it was evident that the headstrong, creative piglet at its center was based on a real little girl. In interviews, Falconer—a set designer and illustrator for the New Yorker—referred to his niece, also named Olivia, as the inspiration for his character, who went on to appear in almost a dozen books and a hit TV series. Twenty-five years later, I found the real Olivia, Olivia Falconer Crane, no longer a precocious little girl but a grown-up natural resource technician. I talked to her over the phone about what it was like seeing your own life reflected in a popular picture book, about separating yourself from the character inspired by you, and about her brilliant, cantankerous Uncle Ian. This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.

Dan Kois: How did it come to be that you were the inspiration for a whole beloved series of picture books?

Olivia Falconer Crane: I was the first grandchild on my mother’s side, so I was the first niece or nephew for Ian Falconer. He is quoted saying, “Children are like piglets in that they’re so clever and smart,” although he is also privately, to the family, quoted saying that when I was little, I had an upturned nose, like a little piglet, which I did. Originally, all these little paintings were put together as a present for me, when I was about 3 years old.

Like a Christmas present?

Yes. I remember my mom getting it and I remember her crying. I was far more focused on the fact that my uncle Ian had given me my first princess dress.

That’s smart gift-giving, the sentimental, valuable thing to the parent and then the princess dress to the kid.

He was actually the best gift giver. I mean, he used to give us piranhas and stuffed rats and the most fabulous gifts you could ever imagine as a little kid.

A couple of years later, he transformed some of that work into the book Olivia.
How old were you when the book actually came into existence?

I was 5.

When you were growing up, what role did these books have in your childhood? Were you interested in them?

All the characters in the books are the characters from our family. The cats and the dogs, they were actually the cats and the dogs in our household. The cat was Edwin Moses, our actual cat. The dog was Perry, our actual dog. The stories that happened in the books were stories that were taken from my brothers’ and my day-to-day activities, as well as Ian Falconer’s childhood with his two sisters. They had a pretty wild childhood. They grew up on an island in the middle of Long Island Sound. They were the only ones who lived on the island.

What?!

Yeah, you should look it up, Tavern Island. They had to take a boat to get to school.
Their parents ran a sailing school. They bought this unbelievable home from Billy Rose.

Billy Rose, the famous Billy Rose? The producer?

Yes, that Billy Rose. Their father was an architect and he renovated the house. They had the most fantastic childhood. And in the winter, dragging a ladder across the ice because you couldn’t take the boat. You’d bring the ladder in case you fell in, which happened a few times.

So you had this sense of these books as telling these family stories. When did you understand that these books are also out in the world, and they’re important to people other than you and your family?

Pretty early. My mom made sure to tell me, “Olivia the pig is not you. You’re very separate. You’re not the same.”

Did you believe her?

Yeah, I did. She was very good at it. When I was 6, I realized it was very special to other people, because Ian had me come to a book signing. He let me sit down and sign books with him. We have the photos from it. I mean, the line of people going out the bookstore was so weird to me, because to me it was just my Uncle Ian. The book took off very fast. People in school knew right away.

Oh, yeah, what was the reception like at school?

People were very kind about it. The teachers always wanted to read it, and no one in school ever mocked me or made fun of me about it. They were always very nice, which I was always surprised about, because it was a pig.

Right, it would’ve been easy.

Yeah, it was a layup. It was right there. I think it was just such a beloved book, and people could relate to it so easily, that no one really wanted to make fun of me.

In the books, Olivia is a real New York kid. Do you still live in New York?

I do not. I live in Anchorage, Alaska.

Holy cow. Where do you go when you want to see your favorite painting by Degas?

I go back to New York. My husband’s a pilot, so we can fly home a lot.

When you look back on the books, do you recognize yourself? Do you think, OK, I know my mom said I wasn’t Olivia, but I still see in her the little girl that I used to be?

I do recognize Olivia. I think the thing I recognize most in those books is my family. The book was titled Olivia, but it should have been titled The Falconers. When I read it, it just speaks to who they are as people, and it’s really special.

You’ve touched a little on Ian—his great gift-giving—but tell me what you remember him being like as an uncle when you were little.

Ian was cantankerous. He was extremely smart and witty. Extremely judgmental. He was a true queen. He never hid anything. He was so frank. He was so blunt. He was never what anyone would ever imagine a children’s book author to be.

It’s very clear from the books that Olivia the Pig—not you of course—is exasperating, even as we are meant to love her, as her mother loves her, as the author clearly loves her. But he’s not pulling any punches about what a pain in the neck she is.

No, and he never pulled any punches with us as children. He adored us, but at the same time, he also told us how much we annoyed him.

People underestimate how much kids love that. Kids love when adults are totally straight with them.

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Absolutely. I mean, he would never doubt how smart we were and how much we could absorb. I think the most fun part with him was he would take us to places that most people would never take a child. He would take us to the opera. He would take us to behind the scenes in ballets. He would take us to meet David Hockney. He would introduce you as if you were a tiny adult and expect you to behave. If you didn’t, he’d look you dead in the eye and tell you, “You’re being a brat.”

He also never hid the fact that he was HIV-positive from us. He was so up front with all of that. It made us so open to everything, which was the best thing he could have done for us. I mean, to me it was just a fact of life that people are gay, people are HIV-positive. He was so nonchalant and factual, and if you ever complained about anything, he would just give you sass straight back. It was marvelous.

He never, ever let you try to be anything but what you were. He and I were polar opposites. I was bubbly and smiley and athletic and not artistic in the least. He was grouchy and crotchety, and so fantastically artistic.

He had this little girl in his life whom he didn’t exactly understand and who drove him a little crazy, but then he put her on the page just as she was, and everyone discovered that she was totally lovable and great.

Exactly. He adored me as much as he hated me. We both understood each other, and it was perfect.

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