Do Unto Otters

July 23, 2007
Keller’s (The Scrambled States of America
) latest offers lessons in the social graces, featuring Mr. Rabbit and his whiskery new neighbors, the otters. “I don’t know anything about otters
,” the pink-eyed, pink-nosed protagonist agonizes. “What if we don’t get along?” At this, a bookish owl pops in from the margin with an apt take on the Golden Rule: “Do unto otters as you would have otters do unto you.” Hmmm...,” muses Mr. Rabbit, “How would I like otters to treat me?” When he opines, “I’d like otters to be polite
,” a gray otter in polka-dot shorts demonstrates how to say “please” in five languages (counting Pig Latin), then does the same for “thank you” and the indispensable “excuse me.” Later, the smiling otters “co-otter
-ate” and help friends move a heavy log. Even disagreements can be managed. Keller loads her acrylic-on-paper images with comical asides and tangential conversations, and goggle eyes, rubbery smiles and rounded teeth suggest her cast’s goofball personalities; no mistaking them for Little Lord Fauntleroys. Without prescribing perfect etiquette, Keller serves up sound, friendly advice for maintaining a peaceable kingdom. Ages 5-8.

September 1, 2007
Gr 1-3-Mr. Rabbit is worried that he might not get along with his new neighbors. A wise owl gives him the advice, "Do unto otters as you would have otters do unto you" and proceeds to explain what this means. Thus follows a listing of traits and qualities such as friendliness, politeness, honesty, consideration, cooperation, and sharing. Each one contains humorous examples of Mr. Rabbit and the Otters following those rules. Also included are samples of how to say certain phrases such as "Excuse me" and "Please" in Spanish, French, German, Japanese, and Pig Latin. Each page bursts with colorful illustrations and is scattered with words of different sizes and fonts. This simple story is certain to appeal to children."Donna Atmur, Los Angeles Public Library"

Copyright 2007 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from October 15, 2007
From the gleeful title pun to the kinetic illustrations, this cleverbook from the creator of Open Wide: Tooth School Inside (2000) introduces the golden rule with irresistible humor. Mr. Rabbit is worried about life with his new neighbors, the Otter family: I dont know anything about otters. What if we dont get along?Then a wise bird introduces Mr. Rabbit to a favorite saying: Do unto otters as you would have otters do unto you. As Rabbit ponders how he would like to be treated, he covers the basics of polite and responsiblebehavior, from saying a cheerful helloand please and thank you tobeing honest, considerate, and kind.The clean design features well-placed arrows and other visual cues to help children quickly jumpthrough the multiple images on each page, a feature that, combined with the wildly expressive cartoon-style animal characters, makes thescenes feellike part of an animated film. As usual, Keller packs the tale with unabashedly goofy puns, jokes, and even a few fart references, and the sheer silliness and well-tuned comic timing of it all will easily pull kids into the clearly explained concepts. Pair this sly, intelligent guide to etiquette with other equally unstuffy picture-book titles in the adjacent Read-alikes: Mind Your Manners.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2007, American Library Association.)