The Sinking of Captain Otter

As Kelpy sails on [see excerpt above], he encounters more and more laughter on the sea, but he manages to keep his heart strong and to continue sailing on. Eventually, Kelpy encounters the pirate Blistering Blastering Butterbeard, a butterfly captain in a small ship, and Kelpy “laughed and laughed and laughed” at the miniature captain. When Kelpy sees how upset Butterbeard is at being laughed at, Kelpy realizes his mistake and immediately remedies the situation by engaging in a sea battle with Butterbeard. The captains enjoy the battle so much they keep rebuilding and re-sinking each other’s ships, the laughter now joyful rather than hurtful.

This little picture book packs a powerful message that can educate children about bullying and what it’s like to be both the victim and the bully. The story, itself, doesn’t have a lot of detail and depth, but when viewed as a whole, it works quite well. The sentences are kept to small chunks of text on each page, and the author uses repetition and alliteration which make reading the text both accessible and engaging. The text is also formatted creatively which not only makes the page more fun to look at but helps build comprehension. For example, “laughed and laughed and laughed” uses different indentation on each line making the repetition more noticeable; with the phrase “I’m sinking!”, the letters in the word “sinking” are split up and trailing down the page, illustrating what the word, itself, means. The artwork is inviting and colourful and has adorable details like the butterfly captain wearing a beard to fully illustrate his name “Butterbeard”.

With an important message, creative formatting and lovely pictures, The Sinking of Captain Otter is a great picture book to have in collections.