utterly eh

1. Utterly Otterly Night, M. Casanova, A. Hoyt

Hmm...out of all the picture books I've read to review this week, Utterly, etc. was utterly...just ok.

In the simplest of terms, there were good things about this book: the illustrations were good at communicating the action (I especially like the one below where he is warning his family about wolves!). The story was ok, introducing the audience to some animals which an otter might run into during its' night jaunts.

I think kids would enjoy the book, I just didn't walk away thinking, "aww, that was cute!" or "HOW CLEVER!" or "Those pictures were gorgeous!" That's why I gave it the "ok" rating. Would I read it at my winter themed storytime? You bet--simple text, good pictures, easy to follow story. Just not my cup of tea.
Best ages: Preschool-1st grade.

P.S. I'm not going to lie, I didn't find the whole sliding down hills/otter thing believeable--I don't know why that bothered me so much when I was reading the book, a PICTURE BOOK!!--anyway, I looked it up, and apparently, according to National Geographic, otters DO in fact love sliding down slippery surfaces in the winter. 

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