Narwhal's Otter Friend

March 1, 2019
Grades K-3 In their fourth appearance, Narwhal and Jelly run into an adventuring otter, who immediately hits it off with Narwhal. As Otter regales Narwhal with his tales of exploration, Jelly begins to feel jealous and grumpy?see the dark stormy scribble above his head. Feeling left out, Jelly goes in search of a new friend of his own, with comical results. Clanton's thick-lined cartoon art utilizes speech bubbles, graphic-novel conventions, a blue-and-yellow palette, and occasional bursts of collage. Youngsters will easily connect with Jelly's feelings as he worries about being replaced by Otter, but the happy ending delivers nothing but reassurance. Written almost exclusively as dialogue, the text is short, sweet, and funny; this, combined with the memorable characters, makes dipping one's toes into independent reading a pleasure.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)