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May Olive your dreams come true!

Just in time for the holidays, Chronicle Books has released a brand new, special edition of the modern Christmas classic, OLIVE, THE OTHER REINDEER. This beautiful deluxe edition marks the tenth anniversary of J.otto Seibold and Vivian Walsh's story of a little dog named Olive with big reindeer dreams.

When the book was first published in 1997, it enjoyed great reviews and has since sold more than a million copies. This new edition is a larger version of the original book, and it features flaps to lift, new illustrations, spots to scratch and sniff, and a spectacular pop-up grand finale.

We caught up with J.otto Seibold recently at his home in Oakland, California, which he shares with his family and their dog, Pojangles. (Sadly, Olive, the dog for which the story is named, passed away a year and a half ago). We asked him what it was like to revisit this much-loved Christmas story, particularly after its huge success. "It's funny," he said. "When I first did Olive, I didn't know it would be popular. My two other books at the time didn't sell well."

"I equate this with my brother's high school yearbook photo: he prepped for it by extra-shampooing his hair, and taking his time to get ready, but then he rode a moped and got his hair wet. It turned into an unmanageable lion's mane—and, as a result, made for the most famous picture in our family," J.otto said.

Once he was able to go back and start updating Olive, new things came to light that he wanted to change. Though there were no blemishes (or bad hair-days) in the original Olive, J.otto still looked at this as a rare opportunity to freshen up a book that he hadn't worked on in a decade.

One such update involved incorporating his ten-year-old into the illustrations. Images of his other children (one now nearly 15, the other almost 13) were in the original Olive, but since then a third child came into his life. Look for the names of all three of his children on the tower of Santa's castle. He also added his youngest child to the spread where Santa and Olive fly over Paris.

The best flourish of all is a pop-up castle at the end of the story. Designed to be a perfect holiday gift, this edition will appeal to Olive's many fans, and is sure to make new ones.

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