Small Readers: Tails from History: A Sea Otter to the Rescue by Thea Feldman, illustrated by Rachel Sanson

This quartet of easy readers all features animals from history, with varying success. Some of them are just sort of random sentimentalized stories, but this one is a really nice blend of animal rescue and science.

This is the true story of a sea otter in an aquarium in 2001. Toola was a wild sea otter who had become chronically ill due to pollution in the water and could not be released. When a rescued sea otter pup was later brought into the aquarium, the staff debated what to do with him. In the past, staff had raised orphaned otter pups, but they rarely survived long when returned to the wild. They decided to try to give him to Toola and she quickly adopted him. Toola was an excellent foster mother and became the first in this program to raise pups that could be rehabilitated, as her foster son was. The publicity around Toola also inspired legislation to protect and study sea otters.

Back matter is a page of facts about sea otters and ways to help endangered sea otters. Incidentally, I think their first fact is wrong or at least questionable - while the sea otter may be the heaviest of the mustelidae or weasel family, the giant river otter is almost twice as long, so would be, in my opinion, the "largest."

The staff featured show a variety of races and genders, primarily female. The pictures show lots of cute sea otters and people in various settings. The text is in a large, easy-to-read font, set in paragraphs. It's for an intermediate reader, probably about 2nd grade.

Verdict: The subject of this was fun and it has a nice selection of true facts and cute sea otters. Of the set, this is the one I'd purchase first if budget is limited.

ISBN: 9781534443389; Published June 2019 by Simon Spotlight; Purchased for the library