I kind of expected my nephew to like Otis more than he did. He frequently enjoys a story that is kind of nostalgic in feel (see [b:The Little Auto|42460|The Little Auto (Mr. Small, #1)|Lois Lenski|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1169881261s/42460.jpg|41943], [b:Cowboy Small|42455|Cowboy Small|Lois Lenski|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1320500779s/42455.jpg|41938], [b:The Poky Little Puppy|505304|The Poky Little Puppy (Little Golden Book)|Janette Sebring Lowrey|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1320424154s/505304.jpg|493345], [b:Caps for Sale|775597|Caps for Sale|Esphyr Slobodkina|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1348541342s/775597.jpg|954532]). When we finished Otis, though, he said, "I did not like that one." When I asked him why, he said, "Well, the pictures were too...
weird." He also seemed to a have a little trouble keeping track of what was going on in the story, which surprised me. I thought that it was fairly straightforward, and kind of tend to think that this would be decent pre-school fare.
My niece, on the other hand, liked this book. Frankly, that surprised me, too, because I thought that she'd think it was too "baby-ish." She didn't! She thought that it was a comforting story, and she liked the friendship between Otis and the calf.
As for me, I liked the pictures. I liked the nostalgic feel of them, and they were elegant in their simplicity. I wasn't crazy about the story--it was ok, but I don't think it was particularly unique. As I say, decent pre-school fare, or a nice, comforting bedtime story.