OTTERS UNDER WATER

A very simple descriptive text captions full-bleed color- pencil illustrations of two young otters on a morning fishing expedition, largely under the waters of their northern pond. Arnosky's art is splendid; other creatures (e.g., a pair of hooded merganser ducks) are rendered with precise care (though it would have been nice to identify them, perhaps at the end). Most impressive is Arnosky's control of his medium: luminous, sunny impressionistic colors; playful arrangements of bubbles, reflections, and otters; and the delectable patterns created by intersections of rays of light with the circles and horizontals in the water's surface plane. First-rate natural history for the youngest. (Nonfiction/Picture book. 2-8)