Tag Archives: A Lot of Otters

Slip the Otter Finds a Home

This is a book about helping children adjust to moving, like The Berenstain Bears’ Moving Day, but a bit more subtle. Slip’s otter family can’t find enough food, so they have to move to a new home, and Slip is sad. But when Slip finds a friend (and her family builds a new mud slide), she starts to feel better.

When I was small, I loved to look at the pictures in this book. And otters were very popular here when the boys were small. We liked visiting them at the zoo and we liked reading about them, in A Lot of Otters, Do Unto Otters, and this book too.

Author: Olena Kassian

Illustrator: Olena Kassian

A Lot of Otters

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I’ve been meaning to write about a number Christmas books this holiday season, but somehow this sweet book keeps slipping to the front of the queue.  In short, a lot of otters find a baby and a book that belong to a very unusual (and yet ultimately very relatable) mother.  But the seemingly simple story quietly addresses being lost and found, bold and safe, curious and content (often all at once).

A Lot of Otters seems to have been inspired by a legend about otters and books that Ms. Berger explored in an earlier work, Animalia (which I expect will also show up here someday).  It is calming and soft, with beautiful illustrations that are perfect for for kids who are enthralled by otters (like my youngest).  I especially recommend it for bedtime.

Author:  Barbara Helen Berger
Illustrator:  Barbara Helen Berger