I Am Otter

K-Gr 3—This fully realized picture book captures warmth, imagination, and playfulness in the character of Otter, who was dropped on Otter Keeper's doorstep when he was a baby. He is exuberant, busy, and a little exhausting. One illustration depicts Otter Keeper, a human male, with his head in his hands, slumped at the kitchen table while Otter croons karaoke for the "Otter and Teddy Show." Even Teddy, a limply stuffed bear, sags on the floor beside his abandoned guitar. When Monday comes, Otter drops the alarm clock into the goldfish bowl and hides Otter Keeper's lunch in his overstuffed stomach to keep him home. And once Otter Keeper is off to work, Otter decides to start a business, a toast restaurant. The illustrations complete the sweetness and the hilarity of the narrative. At the center of the book, a spread depicts opening day at the restaurant: pastel-colored, soft droopy tubes of tomato paste, bottles of hot sauce, jam jars, cherries, whipped cream, and stuffed animals face down in soggy toasts are everywhere in a sticky nightmare. Otter can't quite take responsibility, blaming Teddy when the "customers complained and had to be asked to leave…." The illustration shows an open kitchen window with a zany assortment of stuffed animals being tossed onto the sidewalk. When Teddy goes missing, Otter knows what's really important in this wonderful toast to friendship. Garton creates a contagious appetite for more of Otter and his friends, Teddy, Giraffe, and Otter Keeper.—Teresa Pfeifer, The Springfield Renaissance School, Springfield, MA