Odder

A hungry adolescent shark is prowling the waters, looking for food. Nearby otter #156 (so-named by the humans in an attempt to try not to make the gorgeous creatures any more endearing than they already are) floats, soaking up some sun while she thinks of breakfast. 

Sea otters have three main activities: eating, grooming and sleeping, plus having fun in between. 

The otter, whose friends know her as Odder, has a best friend called Kairi. While Odder is adventurous and regularly gets into tricky situations, Kairi is the practical one, who always reminds Odder that food must come before fun. 

Odder doesn’t remember much about her mother, except that she was always telling Odder to stay away from everything she didn’t understand, and especially to keep well away from humans. It was as if her mum was telling her to be afraid of the world, and Kairi seems to be much the same. Odder thinks Kairi and her mom would’ve got along very well.

Kairi seems to be a little slower than usual, so when the great white shark comes after them  it bites her tail. Odder doesn’t know how to help, except by swimming past her friend and directly towards the shark. 

She ends up caught in his jaws and feels the pain of his sharp teeth. The shark quickly discovers that otters taste disgusting, and can’t wait to get away. Seriously wounded, Odder remembers what the older otters had always told them: if you get injured head straight for the shore. 

When she reaches the beach, the people from the aquarium come to get her. Odder actually remembers them, as they were the ones who saved her when she was separated from her mum as a young pup. Too young to survive on her own, the humans spent months teaching her all the things her mum would’ve taught her, and when she had learnt all she needed to, they returned her to the sea. They tagged her before she was released (hence the name otter #156) and at times she has seen them observing her from a nearby boat. When she got too friendly with humans—such as the kayakers Odder so enjoyed interacting with—they would move her somewhere else for her own protection. 

Her injuries are serious, meaning her rehabilitation will take a long time. The humans don’t know if Odder will ever be strong enough to be return to the wild. 

Odder desperately misses her friend Kairi and worries about her.  Then she discovers that Kairi is also at the aquarium, and her fellow otters tell her it’s not because of her tail injury, but because she had the shaking sickness. Kairi had been expecting a baby, but sadly her little pup had died.

Weeks later, Odder is moved to the pup tank where the humans had taught her how to be an otter. To her delight, Kairi is in the other pool. She is laying on her back and has a little bundle of fur on her belly. The humans have given her an orphaned pup to care for. 

Odder doesn’t know why she has been moved to the same pool, until the humans give her an orphaned pup to raise. This one is older than Kairi’s and has no idea how to swim or behave like an otter. Odder is determined to stay away from it, blaming herself for Kairi’s injuries and certain that she would only be a bad example given her adventurous nature which caused her friend to be attacked. After a few days, she realises the little one needs her help. While it was humans who taught Odder to be an otter, it’s much better for an actual otter to do that job. While Odder and Kairi will never return to the ocean, the pups they raise will eventually be released so they can swim and play and enjoy the beautiful freedoms of the ocean. 

This endearing and unusual novel, which is told from Odder’s perspective, is set in the waters of Monterey Bay, California. It is  written in free verse, and beautifully presented with a gorgeous textured cover and sweet black-and-white illustrations of otters throughout. 

The author, Katherine Applegate, is probably best known for The One and Only Ivan, another brilliant book. 

 otters, family, friendship, risk-taking, aquarium, orphans, conservation programs

While obviously there are some moments of danger and sadness for Odder and Kairi, these are handled with a light touch, appropriate to the target age group. The result is a book that inspires the reader with the knowledge that humans can and have made a significant difference to these beautiful, enchanting creatures.