I Am Otter in Space

K-Gr 3—Otter, the always exuberant, occasionally exasperating, but definitely lovable character who was first introduced in Garton's I Am Otter (HarperCollins, 2014) is back. A trip to the museum has turned the spirited creature on to the wonder of space travel, and when she gets home, she decides to plan a journey to obtain a moon rock of her own. Otter delegates jobs to her stuffed toys (constant companion Teddy becomes a fellow astronaut, while Giraffe is tasked with Mission Control), builds a space suit out of a cardboard box, and blasts off using a playground slide. Though the digitally created, cartoonlike illustrations depict laugh-out-loud situations (the hapless Teddy enduring a cycle through the dryer as part of his antigravity training), they're also warm, gently portraying the expressive young animal through ups and downs. Her observations are endearingly naive, and there's often a delightfully childlike contrast between what she imagines and what's actually occurring, such as her belief that the inanimate Teddy has ideas and opinions of his own (for instance, an image of the slumped-over bear is paired with text that reads, "Teddy took his space suit off. He didn't seem to be taking space travel seriously."). Kids will enjoy Otter's riotous antics, while adults may sympathize with her put-upon guardian, Otter Keeper, who returns at the end of the day from work to discover the mischief wrought by a well-intentioned ward who just can't seem to stay out of trouble.