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Otis And The Tornado (2011)

by Loren Long(Favorite Author)

3.94 of 5 Votes: 5

ISBN

0399254773 (ISBN13: 9780399254772)

languge

English

genre

Fantasy

publisher

Philomel

review 1: There is not really a creative story plot here. A tractor saves an angry bull that none of the animals liked from a devastating tornado. Consequently, the bull changes his attitude and befriends the tractor and the other animals. Admittedly, I was attracted to this book because I read on the cover it was from a New York Times bestseller. Although the theme is admirable, I don’t think the story is especially memorable. In the end, the illustrations are what might make this book enjoyable to young readers. Long does a great job of establishing the mood in her illustrations. For instance, there is one scene where the animals and the tractors are standing in leftover devastation of the tornado. In the scene, the colorful animals and tractor a put against a dark backd... morerop, which seems to maintain the mood of death and rebirth.
review 2: Otis is a “friendly little tractor” that lives on a farm where the sunshine is bright and Otis plays with his friend the calf. This idealistic setting gives the reader some indication that disaster may be approaching, but does a poor job of hooking the reader into the story. Otis and the Tornado by Loren Long, sounds like a story that should be filled with adventure and a “twisted” plot, but this story follows most classic children’s novels and is a bit boring. After all of the work is done on the farm, Otis plays follow the leader with all of his farm animal friends, well all except the bull, who is the apparent bully of the group. This is a cute play on words. Otis makes an attempt to befriend this grouchy bull, but cannot seem to get through to him. The bull just huffs and puffs in his pen and refuses to play with anyone. This story takes a cliche turn for the worst when a storm strikes the farm. As the farmer and his family take shelter from the threat of a tornado, Otis begins to wonder what will happen to him and all of his friends. Will they make it to safety? Will the bull ever befriend the tractor? And what will become of the farm? This book did have a cute storyline, but resembled a generic plot that I run across a lot in children’s literature. The ending was too predictable and I wish that Loren Long would have incorporated more character development or interaction to make the reader more involved in the story. I did find myself cheering on the tractor at the end of book, but I wish his obstacles would have been greater, to better emphasize the daring act he did in order to try and save a friend. This picture book definitely fits in an adventure category for very young children. This book would not be very adventuresome to older kids. The illustrations in Otis and the Tornado have more voice that author Loren Long does. The dark shades of the scenery really contrast the bright colors used to make Otis the tractor, in order to show Otis’s bright personality and courage. Her voice is very short and direct and there is not a whole lot of flair to it. However, it makes sense that her voice is this way, because she is the New York Times bestseller for her book, The Little Engine That Could. Otis and the Tornado highly reflects the famous storyline used in that book, which could greatly attribute to my low interest in the book. I like the idea behind the book: a good person can overcome the struggles in their life. However, I think that the story has been overused. Overall, I would recommend this book for very young children, or I would recommend to read The Little Engine That Could instead. This book was published by Philomel Books in 2011, and is pricey at $17.99. It can be purchased at your local bookstore or online with the ISBN number 978-0-399-25477-2. less

Download links for: Otis and the Tornado

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