
Blurb: The whole Blotter family are famous bird spotters, except for Otto. He would rather have adventures. But is this adventure getting too BIG, even for Otto?
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Title: Otto Blotter Bird Spotter
Author: Graham Carter
Illustrator: Graham Carter
Publisher: Andersen Press
Genre: Children’s, Picture Book
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Review:
This book follows Otto Blotter, youngest in a family of renowned bird spotters, as he spots his biggest adventure yet – finding a huge, but rare, type of bird and then hatching a plan with the help of his family to get the bird back to its family.
The first thing that I have to say about this book is that I really loved the illustrations! The colours are very autumnal and perfect for this time of year if you’re wanting to read something seasonal. Carter really has a knack for illustrating nature and it really made the story come to life. I also loved the message of this book as it went far beyond just finding a bird and doing a nice thing by helping it find it’s family – Otto is the odd one out in his family, the only one who would rather adventure outside than sit inside and spot birds. By the end of the book we see that his family see the merit in venturing outside to spot birds and come around to Otto’s ideas. Not only does this show that his family support him, it also shows adults that we can always learn from the younger generation.
As for what I disliked about this book, it was mainly that despite the lovely message that I took from it, it wasn’t all that obvious from my first read. As well as that, the plot was very basic, even for a picture book. Now, this can work really well and this is a beautifully put together book, but it just lacked a certain something for me in comparison to other picture books that I’ve seen.
Overall, I’d recommend this book to anyone who wants a nice, well paced and easy to read story for a story time – or for any little ones who love birds!
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Rating: 3/5
Recommend?: Yes
Have you read this book? Have you read anything similar? What did you think? 📚
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