My three year-old son loves books and he loves trucks. As a result we have a lot of books, trucks, and books about trucks. Currently, one of his favourite books is Otis which is written and illustrated by Loren Long.
The story follows Otis, a little red tractor, and his friend, a brown calf. Otis comforts the calf with his soft purring motor in the night, and they play together during the day. All is well at the farm until the farmer replaces Otis with a big yellow tractor and leaves Otis out in a field to rust away. The sad little calf misses his friend and wanders the farm alone. When the calf gets stuck in Mud Pond it’s up to Otis to save the day.
The story is sweet, but not overly so. My three year-old has no problem sitting through the story and I find that it is the perfect length to read aloud. Although I like the story and the writing, it’s the illustrations that really blow me away. Otis is drawn in such an animated way that he really tugs at your heart. The use of colour on each page is very unique. Loren Long uses muted tones for the background and saves the use of bright colours for select images in a scene. This technique really draws your eye to the characters and makes them pop off the page. I could look at these images for hours.
Otis is currently available in hardcover and is 40 pages long. The publisher recommends a reading level from ages four to eight, although as I mentioned, my three year-old enjoys it. The book currently retails $17.10 in Canada and $12.23 in the United States.
