Autem deserunt excepturi ut ea.

It is surely one of the greatest fears of a book-lover to return to a childhood favourite and find it changed and diminished. This made me wary as well as enormously excited when I saw the author and illustrator of my beloved Katie Morag (978-1849410885 PS9.99 Red Fox Picture Books http://www.amazon.co.uk/Katie-Morags-...) had produced a book about a family of otters. Katie Morag was distinctive in its beautifully detailed, realistic watercolours of the Scottish islands in which it was set, and in the hilarious family dynamics around which each story centred. My personal favourites were the Bad Boy Cousins, in whom I recognised brothers and cousins of my own. My mother particularly enjoyed dour Grandma Island and prim Grandma Mainland's feuds- I suspect she recognised her mother in law and mother in them. I was delighted to find these key elements still at work in The Utterly Otterleys. The lobster pots, seaweed ropes and general detritus of the coast that Hedderwick specialises in depicting are not typical of children's book illustrations, and perhaps unrecognisable to children who have not encountered working British harbours. However, these are the backdrop for characters many children will instantly identify with. Pa Otterley is determined to do the best for his family, so determined that he leads long suffering Ma Otterley and little Otto and Ottina on an eventful tramp through the surrounding countryside. Similarly to Katie Morag, there is a map at the beginning of the book- I should emphasise here I feel strongly that any map has a whiff of adventure about it- and a hand drawn map which you can follow alongside a story holds a magical appeal for child and adult readers. The varied dilemmas and challenges which face the Otterleys appear here, as well as others you can invent your own stories around, although initially I was peeved not to find everything on the map was included in this story. The Otterleys are more simple creations than the human characte