Sand and Surf Time! Otter: Let's Go Swimming! by Sam Garton

"I am so excited!

I will learn to swim in the sea!

Otter Keeper has the beach bag piled full of gear--masks, flippers, snorkels, shovel and pail, and beach umbrella--and Otter has... Teddy and Giraffe.

Otter has never seen the sea!

She spots the dolphins playing off shore, and she's keen to join them. That is, until she gets a little closer to the breaking waves.

"ooooOOOOO!"

Otter Keeper jumps right in with a big splash and demonstrates his strokes. Now it's Otter's turn.

Or not. Otter backs out.

"I can't go swimming now!" says Otter.

"Giraffe is scared of fish!"

Otter gets Giraffe busy building a sand castle.

Otter Keeper declares that fish are no danger to Giraffe. But then Otter insists that Teddy hates getting wet, so both of them must stay on the shore and play with the beach ball.

Otto Keeper reassures Otter that getting wet is part of the fun. Otter hides her head inside her new sand pail and finally tells the truth.

"I am scared of the sea!"Otter admits.

But Otter soon sees that no one else is staying high and dry.

"Everyone is having fun without me!"

Alone is no fun, and Otter lets Otter Keeper hold her hand for her first splash into the waves, and when it's time to go home, she's having too fun to stop. For youngsters just putting a toe in the water and into their first dip into read-alone books, Sam Garton's latest I-Can-Read story, Otter: Let's Go Swimming! (My First I Can Read) (Balzer And Bray/Harper, 2017) is just in time for a summer beach read. Otter is as adorable as ever as she takes to the water like an otter oughta, and Garton's text offers easy-going beach-related vocabulary with ample visual cues from his sunny and charming illustrations.

For little beach-o-phobes who fear getting in the swim, pair this one with David Soman's Ladybug Girl at the Beach (see review here).

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).