Meet Olivette, who wants kids to know that "all of it is YOU!" and to embrace every part of themselves. The brainchild of actor Nico Tortorella, this buoyant story is a celebration of all the many different parts of us.Olivette is here to let you in on a secret: you can be anything you want to be. And even better, you can be
all of it! Olivette is energetic, moody, and unique—just like you, Olivette contains multitudes.
Olivette Is You—all of it is you—is inspired by actor, musician, and author Nico Tortorella's own experience. Through this buoyant picture book, Nico shows you that you don’t have to choose who or what to be; you are already everything.
Nico Tortorella is an actor, musician, and accomplished author. Nico is perhaps best known as Josh on the hit dramedy series
Younger, and they starred in two seasons of AMC’s
The Walking Dead: World Beyond. Nico can also be seen in AppleTV’s
City on Fire, based on the
New York Times bestselling book by Garth Risk Hallberg, as well as the indie drama
The Mattachine Family. Nico wrote a collection of poetry,
all of it is you, and a memoir,
Space Between. Nico is married to longtime partner, Bethany C. Meyers, and they reside on the East Coast with their daughter.
Olivette Is You is Nico’s picture book debut.
Melissa Kashiwagi is an illustrator and concept artist originally from the Salt Lake Valley in Utah. After graduating with a BFA in illustration from Brigham Young University, she found her way to Los Angeles to work in children’s animation and enjoyed some time at DreamWorks and Nickelodeon. She met her husband online during the covid pandemic and moved to Mesa, Arizona, where she enjoys painting, playing fetch with her cats (they really do play fetch!), and hitting up the pickleball courts.
★ "
A celebratory anthem about individuality and uniqueness through all the possibilities that reside within children and eventually adults." —
School Library Journal, starred review
"Take a cue from this assertive protagonist:
Rejoice in who you are and be all you can be." —
Kirkus Reviews
"Employing uplifting first-person rhymes, performer
Tortorella pays tribute to every individual’s uniqueness." —
Publishers Weekly
