Odder is a sea otter.

Ever since she was very small she has been different. As she grows she ignores her mother’s warnings as she always wants to play, dive, spin and race through the water. But there are sharks out there, and humans, and other things she doesn’t understand.

Suddenly separated and alone on a roaring ocean in the middle of a storm, humans discover her where she shouldn’t be. It is other humans who now must teach her how to be an otter so she can return to the sea. Will her mother be waiting for her?

Finally back in the ocean, her mother is proven right again. A shark leaves her bleeding and injured and filled with guilt. If only she’d listened to her mother’s advice.

Told in verse, this tale is one of loss, love and growing up. It’s about learning when to play and when to listen, and of giving back to those who have given to you.

A piece of verse captured me early in the story as the narrator explains humans and their fixation with numbers:

They count cards and sheep

errors and at-bats,

minutes and blessings.

You’ll have to read Odder to see why they love their numbers so much.

Odder is also a tale of conservation and balance, saving one otter at a time, to keep the delicate habitat of otter, kelp, sea urchins and ocean, even. Take one of these out of the equation, and it’s like dominoes heading towards destruction.

Charles Santoso captures the cuteness of an otter pup’s innocence on one page, and the menace of a circling shadow of shark on another.

Other drawings of tiny shells, spiky sea urchins or cheeky otters, all capture the wonder of the ocean and the journey of Odder.

Odder is loosely based on real sea otters and their time in the Monteray Bay Aquarium in California USA, whether recovering from injury or being foster mums to rescued pups.

Another absolute treasure from Katherine Applegate

Author – Katherine Applegate

Illustration – Charles Santoso

Age – 9+

Read more Katherine Applegate Book Reviews (Click on a Cover)

(2023, Allen & Unwin, Animals, Love, Friendship, Verse, Growing up, Ocean, Sealife, Environment, Habitat, Balance, Monteray Bay Aquarium, Verse novel, Sea Otters, Loosely based on fact, Fostering, Giving back)