Review Detail

Olga and the Smelly Thing From Nowhere

Middle Grade Fiction 196

Science Fiction Notebook Novel

January 29, 2018 (Updated: June 30, 2026)

Overall rating

4.0

Plot

4.0

Characters

N/A

Writing Style

N/A

Illustrations/Photos (if applicable)

4.0

Olga loves animals of all kings, so when she finds one that looks like a cross between a potato and a hamster, she takes it home and hides it in her room, even though it smells really bad. She tries to find out what it is, even trying to take it into the library past the suspicious eyes of Ms. Swoop, the tattooed punk librarian. With the help of a local store owner, Mr. Hoopah, she does discover that Meh (as she names it) loves to eat olives. When Meh goes missing, she enlists the aid of Chuck, who has a small dog with an overactive bladder. They find the Olgamus in an unlikely place, but are just glad to have the strange animal back and to have made some friends along the way.
Strengths: This is a notebook novel, which means that it could be about anything and some of my reluctant readers would check it out.

Good Points

This was super weird, and mentioned farts and pee more than it needed to, which are actually points that will make it appeal to the target demographic of elementary school readers! A disproportionate number of notebook novels have boys as the main character, so it's good to see the girls represented in a book that is NOT pink and which highlights Olga's love of science.

The simple illustrations are very expressive, and readers will appreciate that Meh is very easy to draw!

Readers who like funny, quirky notebook novels like Shreve's Stan and the Toilet Monster, Skye's The Creature from my Closet and or Kowitt's The Principal's Underwear is Missing will enjoy the further exploits of Olga and her stinky pink pet.