I Am Otter

February 24, 2014
Garton began telling stories about
Otter on his blog in 2009, and his furry, childlike creation has racked up quite a following since (she has well over 16,000 Twitter followers). For the uninitiated, Garton’s debut picture book does a bang-up job of introducing Otter, who walks readers through her messy life with Otter Keeper, a young working-age man who “found me in a box on his doorstep one day.” There’s a decided Garfield-and-Jon quality to their relationship, with the oft-exhausted Otter Keeper at Otter’s beck and call. In this story, Otter opens a “toast restaurant” at home with Teddy, a plush bear who’s the literal silent partner. The setup lets Garton showcase lots of playroom jokes and Otter’s energetic personality: at one point, she scowls as she tries to foist a hand-scrawled bill on a toy robot and vacant-eyed stuffed pig (“Teddy hadn’t told anyone how much our toast would cost”). There’s a lovely dimensionality and sense of physical comedy in Garton’s digitally created artwork. Combined with Otter’s winning brand of self-importance, it’s plenty to propel her into future adventures. Ages 4–8. Agent: Brooks Sherman, the Bent Agency.

Starred review from February 15, 2014
A bright and hilarious escapade about an otter who, bored while her owner's at work, opens a toast restaurant. Otter lives happily in a house with Otter Keeper, a youthful human adult, and Teddy, a stuffed bear. Her only disappointment is the news that arrives every Monday: Otter Keeper must go to work. Stopping time (by placing the clock in a fish tank) doesn't prevent Otter Keeper's departure, and why don't Otter and Teddy have their own jobs anyway? Clearly, they need to open a toast restaurant. Chaos builds, with all blame assigned to Teddy. The hapless bear forgets to take reservations, causing a long line of impatient toys, and gets orders wrong--burned toast, unpeeled banana, a restaurant patron spread with jam and set on a plate. Underneath these jokes runs a broader one: Otter's first-person narration imbues Teddy (and the other toys) with consciousness and agency, though readers see that Teddy's an inanimate stuffed animal who needs propping to even sit up. Preschoolers will love the notion that Teddy's at fault for the accumulating mess, especially when--after only small- and medium-size spot illustrations surrounded by relaxing white space--the kitchen suddenly explodes into a riotous full-bleed spread of mayhem. Garton's cartoon-style digital illustrations are rich with clear, medium-saturation colors, with shading and texture as highlights. Hysterical. (Picture book. 3-6)

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April 1, 2014

K-Gr 3-This fully realized picture book captures warmth, imagination, and playfulness in the character of Otter, who was dropped on Otter Keeper's doorstep when he was a baby. He is exuberant, busy, and a little exhausting. One illustration depicts Otter Keeper, a human male, with his head in his hands, slumped at the kitchen table while Otter croons karaoke for the "Otter and Teddy Show." Even Teddy, a limply stuffed bear, sags on the floor beside his abandoned guitar. When Monday comes, Otter drops the alarm clock into the goldfish bowl and hides Otter Keeper's lunch in his overstuffed stomach to keep him home. And once Otter Keeper is off to work, Otter decides to start a business, a toast restaurant. The illustrations complete the sweetness and the hilarity of the narrative. At the center of the book, a spread depicts opening day at the restaurant: pastel-colored, soft droopy tubes of tomato paste, bottles of hot sauce, jam jars, cherries, whipped cream, and stuffed animals face down in soggy toasts are everywhere in a sticky nightmare. Otter can't quite take responsibility, blaming Teddy when the "customers complained and had to be asked to leave...." The illustration shows an open kitchen window with a zany assortment of stuffed animals being tossed onto the sidewalk. When Teddy goes missing, Otter knows what's really important in this wonderful toast to friendship. Garton creates a contagious appetite for more of Otter and his friends, Teddy, Giraffe, and Otter Keeper.-Teresa Pfeifer, The Springfield Renaissance School, Springfield, MA

Copyright 2014 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 1, 2014
Grades K-2 Otter is an otter. And her wiggly little life used to be swell. There was a blond-haired kid who had a pretty cool teddy bear, and the three of them used to get into all sorts of fun trouble. (Cue illustration of Otter karaoking amid too much clutter.) But the blond-haired kid grew up, and Mondays now mean that she has to go to work. Try as Otter might to delay this reality (by eating the man's lunch, hiding his alarm clock, etc.), it never works, and so Otter decides to give herself her own joba stuffed-animal restaurant she will run with Teddy. It's a disaster, though, serving up nothing but chaos, which Garton captures in a wordless, show-stopping spread of a kitchen in the worst state of affairs you can imagine. To top it all off, when the man comes home, Teddy has gone missing. If you're keeping count, that's three mini-plotsa bit much, perhapsbut on a page-to-page basis, this is good-natured fun starring a just plain weird animal protagonist with an oversize imagination.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)