Fans of Garton's Otter books will be delighted with Otter and Teddy's second adventure for emergent readers. Otter and Teddy love to play outside when it rains. They try to stay clean, but the mud puddles are too enticing. When Otter Keeper says it's bath time, Otter and Teddy try to hide, but to no avail. Into the bubble-filled tub they go. Bath time is so much fun that Otter comes up with a silly scheme to get another. Many elements are intentionally designed with new readers in mind, including ample white space to set off the short sentences, printed in a large, easy-to-read font. Although the word repetition could be stronger, most words are short and easy to sound out. The occasional off-page voice of the Otter Keeper lacks visual context clues to help new readers. On the whole, however, the cartoonish illustrations are bright and include many helpful visual hints. A lovable protagonist, relatable situations, and a humorous ending make this book a great fit for the youngest of beginning readers.

Otter enjoys playing outside with Teddy but doesn't enjoy baths—at first.While the controlled text is accessible to new readers as it follows Otter's antics outside with its stuffed animal friend Teddy, characterization in this story is rather difficult to understand without prior familiarity with Garton's picture books about Otter. Otter is depicted as an anthropomorphic animal, and Teddy is a toy. But then lines between fantasy and reality become blurred when the (never fully seen) human character, referred to as "Otter Keeper," insists that muddy Otter and Teddy bathe. Bubbles, bath toys, and splashing end up making the dreaded bath fun after all. It's unclear whether Otter Keeper is an adult or a child, but it is clear that Otter Keeper is worn out when Otter asks for another bath and is refused. Rebuffed, a cleaned-up Otter brings Teddy back outside to play, and an intentional splash in a mud puddle results in the coveted second bath. The illustrations are appealing, but they are largely symmetrical with the text. This may support a new reader's decoding efforts, but they do little to add visual interest to the staid story or to clarify its characterization.Not a keeper of an early reader. (Early reader. 5-7)