Odder
Katherine Applegate
Feiwel & Friends
Published September 20, 2022
Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads
About Odder
Meet Odder, the Queen of Play:
Nobody has her moves.
She doesn’t just swim to the bottom,
she dive-bombs.
She doesn’t just somersault,
she triple-doughnuts.
She doesn’t just ride the waves,
she makes them.
Odder spends her days off the coast of central California, practicing her underwater acrobatics and spinning the quirky stories for which she’s known. She’s a fearless daredevil, curious to a fault. But when Odder comes face-to-face with a hungry great white shark, her life takes a dramatic turn, one that will challenge everything she believes about herself—and about the humans who hope to save her.
Inspired by the true story of a Monterey Bay Aquarium program that pairs orphaned otter pups with surrogate mothers.
My Review
My youngest was interested in this book, so I read it first to get an idea whether I thought she’d be ready for all the events in the plot. There’s a part near the beginning where a shark appears, and it’s clear he’ll attack the otters. It’s handled really well. I wouldn’t worry about reading those scenes to middle grade readers at all. The text explains how sharks use their senses to hunt and how mistakes can happen. The story minimizes the details about the shark bite, fading out as rescuers find Odder and take her back to the Aquarium to perform surgery and support her healing.
The story jumps backward in time to show Odder’s early days and then returns to the present to show her recovery and what happens when she meets an otter pup.
The author’s note in the back of the book explains how the story parallels the real rescue and recovery programs at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. Applegate even specifies which otters inspired Odder and her other story characters.
I’ve been to the Monterey Bay Aquarium several times– it’s one of my favorite places. So, reading a book inspired by the work they do and the animals there was a lot of fun. The chapters are short, and the whole story is written in verse, so it’s a very quick read.
My littlest and I read the Wild Robot series together earlier this year, so I’ve been looking for other similar stories to read with her. We haven’t finished reading this one yet, but I think it’ll be another win!
Content Notes
Recommended for Ages 8 to 12.
Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.
Romance/Sexual Content
None.
Spiritual Content
None.
Violent Content
A shark hunts through the water where Odder and a companion swim. The shark injures the otters. Reference to a time when people hunted otters nearly to extinction. Reference to disease and other threats to the otter population.
Drug Content
None.
Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use but help support this blog. I borrowed a copy of this book from my local public library. All opinions are my own.
