With simple text - no more than a phrase or sentence per page - and luminous illustrations, author/artist Jim Arnosky describes the underwater adventures of two otter cubs, as they cavort in their pond home. Mama otter is always watching from the shore, and when the two are finished exploring, they join her...

Having enjoyed two of Arnosky's other works of picture-book natural history - Raccoons and Ripe Corn and Slow Down for Manatees - I immediately snapped up Otters Under Water when I saw it at my public library last week. Otters are charming - hence, my "otterly charming" shelf! - and Arnosky captures their joie de vivre in his lovely artwork. The text here is very basic, and there is no back matter giving more information about these animals, so this is one I would recommend for very young animal lovers, who will enjoy a naturalistic story about otters, but are not yet ready for something more detailed. I also recommend it, of course, to fans of Arnosky's artwork. In either case, readers should be aware that the otters depicted here are river/pond otters, rather than sea otters. ( )

I was not a fan of this book. Even if it is written for young children I still didn't find it educational. There are no facts except that they eat fish and crawfish. This seems like a very lighthearted story about a family of otters and not like a science book. The only thing that I liked were the illustrations. ( )

This book immediately caught my eye because I absolutely love sea otters! They are one of my favorite animals! This story is about otters going about their everyday life, how they catch fish, how they swim, how they swim in packs, and such. Large font sand simple words make it a good book for beginning readers ages 3-6. I thought the illustrations were great because it depicted what otters actually look like, which is super cute by the way. I could use this book in a science lesson to display how otters move around in their habitat. My students could use this book as an idea as for what animal they would like to do an activity on. Overall great book, just might purchase this for my own collection. ( )

The theme is just showing the habitat of the otters

Otters are so cute! Great illustration, very simple text that could appeal to the three and under crowd but even at five it's a fun if short read. ( )