You Otter Listen! Otter: Oh, No, Bath Time! by Sam Garton

Teddy and I love to play in the yard.

Oh, no! It looks like rain!

"Do not get muddy!" says Otter Keeper.

Otter Keeper might as well save his breath.

Of course, Otter and his plushy bear buddy are going to get on their yellow slickers and make the most of the shower.

Teddy loves to play in the rain.

Well, judging from Teddy's fixed expression and body language, he's not the one who really loves playing in the rain and mud. (He is, after all, a toy!)

But Otter loves the water. (He is, after all, an otter.) He takes Teddy splashing in the rain puddles and soon Otter Keeper makes a declaration.

"Okay, it's time for a bath!"

But Otter does not like baths. He and Teddy try to hide. They even dress up and wear their Groucho glasses with mustaches. But somehow Otter Keeper seems to recognize them and get them into the suds. And, of course, they take to it like, well, otters to water. It's just as wet and fun as the rain.

So now Otter doesn't want to get out of the bath. Otter Keeper finally has to extract them from the tub and dry them off, hair dryer and all. He orders Otter to stay stay clean and dry for the rest of the day!

But now Otter wants to take another bath. Otter Keeper, however, is not up for doing that all over again.

"NOT TODAY!" he states firmly.

But where there's a will, there's a way, and outside in the yard, there's a lovely puddle waiting at the foot of the slide and Otter knows just what to do with it, in Sam Garton's Otter: Oh No, Bath Time! (My First I Can Read) (HarperCollins, 2016), and even young emergent readers can predict what happens next, as can their parents, who likely already know that for preschoolers, it's hard to get them into the bath and even harder to get them OUT. With Garton's engaging illustrations providing the visual cues for the simple text, this is a good first reader for youngster who have already met the characters in Sam Garton's popular Otter in Space by Sam Garton, (2016-01-01)Otter Goes to School (I Am Otter), and Otter Loves Easter! (I Am Otter).