An Adventure with Oscar Otter

We purchased Maurice Pledger board books (Oscar Otter, Olive Owl and Billy Bunny) for our child at 6 months and at 2 years old they are still favorites. Here are just some of what we love about them. The illustrations are spectacular. They accurately represent the wildlife being depicted. There is a great variety of textures to appeal to a child's desire to touch and feel. Our child's favorite page is the "sticky" plant in Olivia Owl. They encourage interaction with questions like "How many shiny beetles has he found on the rose bush?" (from Billy Bunny) and requests like "Tickle her orange tummy." (from Oscar Otter). They are oversized for board books (approx. 9x11 inches), which our child loves. They give children nice big pictures to look at.

I purchased this book for my daughter when she was 7 months old and she has read it everyday since. The illustrations are very detailed and so beautiful. Every page has a texture for her to feel and now that she is 14 months old she likes to put my finger to the textures and see my reaction. She has learned to identify animals and insects, colors and textures. She still loves to explore the pages and we read this book at least ten times a day! I would recommend this book to any parent with a child ready to learn!

This is an entertaining book that we have enjoyed sharing with our 7 mo. old baby. She especially looks forward to the last page because of all the pop ups. Be careful not to put used baby wipes too close to the book, you may end up having to order another. A humble Dad!

The story is simple: Oscar Otter wants to meet a goldfish, so after catching a glimpse of one, he starts searching for it. Six pages feature flaps to lift in the search. Each flap activates a pop-up or causes something to move. As the last page is opened, a full two-page pop-up is revealed. The artwork is very cute. However, the animals are realistically enough drawn, that the cooperation and friendship between predator and prey seems odd.