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Lottie Potter Wants an Otter by Jeanne Willis and Leonie Lord (view source)
Revision as of 13:47, 15 December 2021
, 13:47, 15 December 2021no edit summary
|isbn=9780007501335
|website= http://www.jeannewillis.com/
|aznuk=0007501331
|aznus=0007501331
I found Jeanne Willis' complex rhymes good fun as it makes the book something that you have to really concentrate when reading; it was Leonie Lord's illustrations that fell a little flat for me. The drawings are a cross between ''Mr Ben'' and the naïve style of an overenthusiastic, but skilled, 12 year old. You get a lot of imagery on the page and the colours work. However, a lot of the elements feel a little rushed. The various lists of otters are shown, but the detail is poor. Drawing tons of animals on one page can be time consuming, but compare the effort made here with something like [[Life is Magic by Meg McLaren]] and you will see what an eye for detail can bring to a book. I also found the choice of filter odd, it felt as if the book has been printed on cheap paper, but this is actually the drawings and not the page.
Willis' words may prove a tricky taskmaster, but for the most part they are well thought through and have some very amusing rhymes. Lord's illustrations just don't live up to the text. The book is still perfectly fun, but it lacks that something special to make it really stand out. If you wanted a Seussian style book, you could always just get a book by [[:Category:Dr Seuss|Dr Seuss]]. We can recommend [[Otter's Coat: The Real Reason Turtle Raced Rabbit: A Cherolachian Tortoise and Hare by Cordellya Smith]].
For animal antics try the sublime [[Life is Magic by Meg McLaren]] or check out the master himself [[How the Grinch Stole Christmas! by Dr Seuss]]