Summary: A baby otter is swimming with his mother when he is swept away in a storm. He is taken to a zoo where he is put with a new "mom" and he swims and eats with her and is happy. The book explains how zoos go about taking in animals, rehabilitating them and releasing them back into the wild.

Personal reflection: At first I was very sad when the baby otter got separated but realized that it was going to have a good life in the zoo. I was hoping that the baby was going to be reunited with it's mother at the end of the story but realize that that probably does not happen in reality.

Class use: This could help teach students how zoos work, and how they go about rehabilitating animals by taking them in from the wild to just put them back. It could also be used to teach students about otters; what they eat, how they sleep and live. ( )

NOT what I was expecting from the cover! The baby otter is separated from his mother, picked up by wildlife rescuer scientists, put in with an adoptive mother, and eventually returned to the ocean, but never reunited with his own mother. Emotionally, this was Dumbo all over again. Gorgeous illustrations, though, and some nice animal facts, like how otters crack open clam, oyster, and crab shells on rocks to get the meat out.

A baby sea otter is separated from his mother in a storm, then rescued by humans and placed in a rehabilitation center where an adoptive mom teaches the baby the skills needed to feed himself. Ending with his ocean release, he is last seen tethered in seaweed and fast asleep among a group of other otters. A good balance between naturalism and anthropomorphism. ( )