Sharing Secrets: Life of Sea Otter

 

BOYDS MILLS PRESS, 2022
Imprint of Astra Books for Young Readers

From cover to cover, line to line, and otter to otter, THE SECRET LIFE OF A SEA OTTER is a nonfiction picture book that assures many new fans for this species, ENHYDRIS LUTRIS. Using a hypothetical female sea otter named LUTRIS, a nod to the species name, author Laurence Pringle and illustrator Kate Garchinsky create a magical, informative, alluring "year-in-the-life" portrait of sea otters in THE SECRET LIFE OF A SEA OTTER.

Nonfiction picture books have firmly established their place on shelves as literature, quite unlike the experences reported by elders who sought information about the world by reading volumes of encyclopedia. In fact, the narrative in this selection is prose but reads with the flow, pacing, and entertainment power of imaginative and poetic fiction. I took great pleasure in following little "Lutris" from the opening spread in which she takes a midday float/nap, gently rocked on ocean waves with her colony, held in place by a wrap of anchored kelp, and covering her eyes with her front paws to shut out overhead sunlight.

You can immediately identify extensive facts that float with her on that page- about habitat, habits, protective adaptation, and more that I did not mention. In fewer than forty words,  enhanced by accurately detailed and appealingly drawn illustrations of the otter and her ocean. each page turn reveals more about the coastal habitat and the environment she shares with other living things. Text incorporates age-appropriate terms that are italicized to indicate further information will be found in a glossary at the back.

Questions will arise naturally in the mind of young readers and are anticipated within the straightforward and minimal text, again with those adorable but accurate images. How can she survive the cold waters? Doesn't her fur get soaked and drag her down? Why do her rear paws look so different from the front ones? Does she eat that kelp? Can she breathe under water? How can she see underwater? Does anything try to eat HER? How do otters learn to DO all those things? Does she "talk" to the other otters? Are otters like whales and dolphins? or different? In what ways?

And, oh, my, what happens to baby otters? How can they survive?

That last question is answered in the most incredibly complex touching ways, we learn, many of which will remind readers of how the youngest human infants survive and grow and learn.

We first meet Lutris when she is young female, living within a colony. We leave the book about a year later, depicted in the few pages of an evocative and lovingly realistic picture book.By then Lutris's own offspring is five months old and prepared to begin to live on its own. By that time the audience, young or old, will have also acquired a great deal of learning about (and affection for) sea otter life. Two pages of expanded expository text provide immediate and more detailed answers to those who are eager for more information, followed by a simple glossary and a few suggested books.

In the main text the author has included a well-curated selection of essential and intriguing facts about this endangered species, one relatively less known among North American animals. For each fact threaded through the compelling nonfiction narrative there were certainly dozens of other factual tidbits that hit the cutting room floor. The same is true for the denser back matter in which selected content suits a young and slightly oder reader well.  This allows readers to satisfy their curiosity with enough information to pursue whatever level of further reading is desired. 

STAR BRIGHT BOOKS

One title I'll happily add to the comparable books listed is GOOD NIGHT, LITTLE SEA OTTER, written by Janet Halfmann and illustrated by Wish Williams. This multi-award-winning title is available as picture book AND board book, in English and Spanish, and in ten other languages. The covers of these two books can be easily compared, noting similarities and differences. In this title, little sea otter has its own reflections at the end of a busy day, not unlike those in the classic GOOD NIGHT MOON. 

Little otter notes and bids goodnight to its neighbor creatures in the sea/coastal environment. It is a bedtime book, offering a conclusion that encourages sleep, while the first title energizes readers to actively seek more reading and research. Both have a deep respect for the complex adaptive lives of a remarkable species, layered with awe-inspiring spreads that show understanding of and respect for a habitat that few of us experience or fully appreciate.

My advice? Get your hands on both, and continue to seek and read (and share!) picture books that enfold readers with valuable learning experiences within the comforting experience of a storytelling picture book narrative.