Big City Otto

August 15, 2011

A throwback to old-school comics, this series opener offers a whimsical menagerie of wild animals in search of a beloved friend.

Simpleton pachyderm Otto enlists his friend, a clever green parrot named Crackers, to help him find Otto's very best friend, Georgie, a chimpanzee who was stolen from their African jungle home by "the man with the wooden nose." The duo must make their way out of the jungle and soon find themselves across the pond in America, in the big city. When the pair falls in with a gang of crooked gators who take advantage of Otto's unfortunate peanut allergy (to help them steal gator-ade, of course), Otto and Crackers need to learn who is trustworthy—and who is out to take advantage of their naivete. Slavin's lush, full-color illustrations have a yesteryear feel with a dash of European influence, invoking the likes of Tintin or Asterix. This makes for a slower, gentler type of graphic novel; while the action chugs along, Otto has a distinctly mellower feel than many of his slick, whizzing contemporaries. While Otto's sensitive bumbling may appeal in this volume, it has the potential to wear itself thin in subsequent volumes, if more is not done to develop him as a character.

(COPYRIGHT (2011) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

November 1, 2011

Gr 2-4-Otto the elephant and Crackers the parrot leave their forest home in Africa to find their missing friend George, a monkey. They end up in the big city, where poor Otto attempts to squeeze through a subway turnstile and literally "catches" a cab with his trunk. The travelers encounter a host of animal characters on their adventure, including an alligator named Cajun Joe, who guides them toward their next trip, in volume two, to the bayou. Drawn in a colorful cartoon style, with plenty of corny jokes and visual gags, this is a gentle, humorous adventure that children should enjoy.-Lisa Goldstein, Brooklyn Public Library, NY

Copyright 2011 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 15, 2011
Grades 2-4 Otto still remembers his childhood pal, Georgie the chimp, who was taken from their African home by the man with the wooden nose. From this slightly creepy seed, a charming narrative emerges as Otto embarks on a quest to New York City in search of the missing simian. Subject to crying jags and not the brightest big galoot around, Otto needs his parrot friend Crackers to do most of the thinking. Crackers gets them through airport security, into the zoo and, unintentionally, tangled up in the plans of a group of alligator gangsters. Slavin's (Transformed: How Everyday Things Are Made, 2005) illustrations recall latter-day Will Eisner for the urban realism, rumpled figures, and the appealing personalities he packs into the large cast of quirky human and animal characters. He also uses familiar strangers-in-a-strange-land tropes and buddy dynamics to humorous effect, inviting young readers back for a second volume, as Otto and Crackers head off to New Orleans in search of their still-missing friend.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)

January 1, 2012
With Esperanga Melo. In their first graphic novel adventure, elephant Otto and his parrot sidekick Crackers leave their African jungle home to find Otto's chimp friend Georgie, who was kidnapped and brought to America. The story's humor can fall flat, but the caricatured animals in a human world make for an engaging study in contrasts along with the tale's danger and adventure.

(Copyright 2012 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)