THE WHALE'S TALE AND THE OTTER'S SIDE OF THE STORY

Can words on a page yield two entirely different reads?

Challenging youngsters to “read from front to back and back to front,” a humpback whale and a southern sea otter each make the case for their own inherent superiority. The whale raises salient points about how cetaceans hunt in pods and communicate through song. Once readers reach the end, however, those same words take on an entirely different meaning. Now the otter argues in favor of its own kind. After all, otters cuddle their offspring and hold hands while they slumber. While the work isn’t entirely dissimilar from reverso poetry collections like Marilyn Singer and Josée Masse’s Mirror Mirror (2010), Messner couches her cleverness in a personal challenge with a higher purpose. “Could I use the exact same words, spoken by two different characters, to create two very different effects?” she asks in an author’s note. “How might [readers] evaluate each narrator’s biases?” She achieves her goal with panache, aided by Biggs’ art, which keeps the narrative coherent and pairs seamlessly with the cheekily bombastic words, presented in large, colorful typefaces. A limited palette of pinks and blues highlights the uproarious facial expressions of both creatures as they plead their case. Backmatter offers more information on both species, including diet, communication, and predators.

Serves up hilarity galore while leaving readers with real food for thought.