Rescuing Rialto A baby sea otter's story

Gr 3-6-It is hard to find a wild animal that is cuter or more playful than a baby sea otter. When one is stranded and fighting for survival, however, that behavior is nearly impossible to notice. Meet Rialto, a baby sea otter who was separated from his mother and found washed ashore on the coast of Washington state. By a stroke of fate, humans spotted him, and a team of specialists were able to nurse him back to health. In the wild, sea otters have had a difficult existence as hunters have sought them out for their beautiful fur. Where their populations once spread around the Pacific Ocean, they began disappearing at an alarming rate. Now, happily, the number of wild sea otters is beginning to increase thanks to the diligent work of environmentalists and politicians. This book tells the story of Rialto's rescue and recovery through the voice of a journalist who covered the events firsthand. The thorough text is peppered with challenging vocabulary and punctuated by full-color photographs of Rialto. Readers who are interested in sea otters will enjoy the multifaceted storytelling in this book. VERDICT A good upper level nonfiction text to round out the animal rescue section of elementary school libraries.-Mary Lanni, Denver Public Library © Copyright 2019. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Photojournalism tells the true story of Rialto, a rescued baby sea otter, along with many scientific and historical facts about sea otters. Readers of Jean Reidy's poetic, almost mystical, picture book Pup 681: A Sea Otter RescueStory, illustrated by Ashley Crowley (2019), can seek out Mapes' book for more facts about these critters. The text begins with simple sentences about the eponymous baby otternamed for Washington's Rialto Beach, where he was strandedbut soon offers much more information than a tale of rescue and rehabilitation. By the text's third page, readers have learned these facts: Normally, babies stay close to their mothers; they have "very loud voices so their mothers can hear them over the wind and waves"; sea otters are legally protected. The next page includes a full paragraph about baby sea otters' dependency on their mothers, then a second paragraph that lists the babies' predators and states that their survival rate in the wild is 50 percent. By the time Rialto is thriving in the Seattle Aquarium (prior to a permanent move to the Vancouver Aquarium), readers have learned about sea otter diet, fur, teeth, habits, and more. Before Rialto moves, there are 10 paragraphs and a map devoted to the otters' human-caused, near extinction and their human-aided comeback. The clever truth: Less-motivated readers can view each of the numerous, oh-so-cute-and-cuddly photographs, then read their detailed captions to get the story's condensed version.Calling all sea otter fans! (sources) (Nonfiction. 7-10) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.