Otis by Loren Long

Otis by Loren Long

Rating: 5 special stars

One of our most favorite illustrators has written (and, of course, illustrated) a book of his own.  And it is wonderful!  One of my favorite things about it is that it's about a tractor, thus drawing in Ben, but he's a really cute tractor that loves to rollick and play and jump all around, so this draws in Lorelei really easily, too.

It is a simple tale about friendship: Otis is an old-school tractor and loves to work on his farm.  He becomes friends with a young calf and, together, they romp through the fields and sit together under the apple tree after a day of hard work.  But then the farmer upgrades and gets a huge, snazzy, new tractor.  Otis is moved from inside the barn to outside, where weeds grow over him and he starts to rust.  One day the young calf gets stuck in Mud Pond, and no one--including the snazzy new tractor--can get him out, until a familiar puff putt puffetdy chut comes from the barn, and Otis rescues his little friend.  "The calf was a special calf, Otis was a special tractor, and the two of them were special friends."

SO sweet!

A note on Loren Long.  His talent just blows me away.  I'm so appreciative that he chose to apply his artistic talents to, among other things, children's books.  Most of his books are pretty heavy--Wind Flyers is about the first all-black fighting squadron, I Dream of Trains is about a little black boy devastated by the death of Casey Jones.  But Otis is a wonderful book with appropriate art--slightly more cartoon-like than his other projects.  And the use of color--red Otis, the yellow new tractor, the red fire truck--just pop out from the pages. 

This is one for your bookshelf.  Definitely a great gift for any 3- or 4-year old, boy or girl!