Utterly Otterly Night

In this follow-up to Utterly Otterly Day, Little Otter and his family pop through the frozen ice and slide down snowy hills under moonlight. Casanova's gently cadenced verse mimics the otters' movements: "Up and down, the otters play./ They glide and slide, / in a whooshily, shooshily way." Little Otter encounters other animals as he plays, including a rabbit, owl, and moose. But atop a high hill, he smells trouble: a pack of wolves. Hoyt's matte pen-and-ink illustrations create contrast between the smiling, rosy-cheeked otters and the chilly blue of the wild landscape; Little Otter's tense escape will leave readers relieved by his family's safe return. Ages 3-6. (Nov.)

PreS-Gr 2--In this second "Otterly" book, Little Otter urges his family out of their snow-covered den for some nighttime fun. As he zooms down the hills, he encounters a rabbit, plows under the snow beneath the reach of an owl, and even stops short of a towering moose's hooves. But since he is a "big otter now," he knows danger when he smells it. Sure enough, five wolves "[peer] out from piney shadows, /big teeth...big eyes..." looking hungrily right at him. "Heart bump-bumping," Little Otter zigzags away to divert them from his family while he screams a warning. Of course, everyone makes it back to the den safely, and "all is right" on this "icily, dicily/...frightfully, delightfully, /utterly otterly night." Youngsters will enjoy the irony of the parents' initial warning to be alert to danger while it is left to the youngest family member to save everyone, and they will love repeating the delicious fabricated rhyming words, even though the inconsistent rhyme scheme may challenge adults reading aloud. The pen-and-ink cartoon illustrations, mostly spreads, depict a chubby-cheeked, grinning otter family playfully cavorting in their winter habitat. Watercolor washes, swirling lines, and cross-hatching convey the joyous, nonstop energy of the animals until a close-up of Little Otter, head raised, mouth wide open as he cries, "Danger!" heralds his life-and-death flight from the wolves' grasp. Betty Tatham's Baby Sea Otter (Holt, 2005) offers some factual information about these utterly adorable creatures.--Marianne Saccardi, formerly at Norwalk Community College, CT