Big Top Otto

Gr 3–6—Otto is traveling the American countryside, along with his friend Crackers the parrot, in search of his chimp friend, Georgie, who has been kidnapped. Falling into one humorous situation after another, the elephant finds himself accidentally impersonating a sports team mascot, in jail, and, ultimately, at the Punkratz and Pinky Traveling Circus. In his pursuit of Georgie and the kidnapper, he discovers a dark side to the circus when he finds himself in a room surrounded by taxidermied animals. As it turns out, animals are being sold from the zoo and hunted. Using his peanut allergy for comic relief (apparently, it's not dangerous for elephants to be allergic to peanuts–it only makes them sneeze explosively), Otto unwittingly saves the day. Following leads and hunches brings Otto and Crackers close to finding Georgie, but the book ends on a cliff-hanger, which will leave young readers eager for the next book. Slavin is a skilled illustrator and storyteller, and he brings these talents to this graphic-novel series. The full-color art is traditional in style, and the illustrations, particularly of Otto, add humor to an already funny story.—Liz Zylstra, County of Prince Edward Public Library, Picton, Ontario