People who know me are aware of one fact: I’m an animal lover. No vacation or day trip is complete without a visit to a zoo, wildlife sanctuary, beach, or any other spot where you’ll find our feathered, furry, or scaly friends. And since I’m a hard-core bibliophile, any book featuring one or more critters with whom we share our planet is sure to attract my attention. And if I’m really fortunate, a book review site will feature such a title.
So you can imagine my delight when I learned that an author of memorable animal (and other) children’s stories has penned a new book. As soon as the digital library copy appeared on my Kindle app, I began reading and immediately knew a literary treat was in store. So, without further ado, here is my review of Katherine Applegate’s latest blockbuster.
Meet Odder. She’s an energetic, fun-loving sea otter. Her mother, Ondine, gave the pup this name because, unlike most otters, she always wants to keep moving and has an insatiable curiosity.
Her story, told in free verse, begins when Odder is three years old. She and her closest friend, Kairi, are floating on the shallow water of Elkhorn Slough, a protected area in California’s Monterey Bay.
Play,
Odder wants to know,
or eat?
First, we eat,
then we play,
answers Kairi,
who is always practical,
a cautious sort.
Having none of Kairi’s advice, Odder entices her friend to frolic in the waves. The curious otter, seeing something interesting, swims up to a kayak and takes a whiff of its passenger before her friend reprimands her. To distract Odder, Kairi, lacking the energy to keep up with her, asks to hear the story of the 50. So Odder relates the frightening tale of how humans hunted sea otters until only 50 remained. Afterwards, others worked to bring them back from near extinction.
Unknown to the otters, a hungry shark is searching for a meal. Smelling the pair, the young shark (too inexperienced to know that otters are not good to eat) decides to target Kairi because she is slower. Odder, unaware of the danger, cajoles her friend to swim into the deeper ocean. A frightened Kairi implores her to return to safer waters.
Odder ignores her until she sees the shark. When the predator bites Kairi’s tail, Odder, feeling guilty because she caused this trouble, attacks the shark in the hopes of distracting him so Kairi can escape. Biting Odder in the stomach, the big fish realizes his mistake and spits her out. The embarrassed shark’s only consolation is that nobody saw him go after an animal that is not prey.
A badly wounded Odder, remembering she once found help on the shore, fends off unconsciousness and manages to swim to the beach and drag herself out of the water. Odder, unsure if she will survive, attracts the attention of humans. When help arrives, the scientists who answer the call and Odder recognize each other. Will they be able to save the badly wounded sea otter?
Katherine Applegate has done it again. The author who brought us the unforgettable The One and Only Ivan–a true story about a gorilla kept in a cage in a shopping mall told from Ivan’s perspective, The One and Only Bob, and (drum roll, please) The One and Only Ruby, scheduled for publication in May, 2023–turns her attention to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. Under her capable pen, the scientists’ real-life efforts to rehabilitate sea otters and return them to the wild becomes a moving story. Through her ingenious use of free verse, Applegate takes us into the minds of the adorable critters, a young shark, and the humans who care for the sea mammals. This charming story appears, because of its free-verse format, simple on the surface but has depth and meaning. Applegate’s skill shows: she blends the right touch of humor, drama, realism, and adventure. The author portrait of the otters’ world is sheer poetry:
Beyond the slough
lies Monterey Bay,
a whole different animal,
a watery whale,
huge and intimidating
but breathtaking beneath the surface:
kelp forests weave green blankets
while sun shafts
cut like blades.
Charles Santoso’s well-placed, expressive illustrations of not only sea otters but starfish, sea urchins, sea lions, and–at the story’s opening–the shark enhance the short chapters. Readers who are enamored with Odder are sure to enjoy Katherine Appel’s Once Upon a Camel and A Wolf Called Wander by Rosanne Parry.
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