Rumor of Otters

by Deborah Savage

Angry at being left behind when her father and brother go off to muster sheep, Alexa decides to search in the wild for the otters previously seen only by a mystical Maori tribesman.

Genres: Young Adult, Animals

156 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1986

About the author

Deborah Savage is the author of a number of books for young adults, including, Summer Hawk, winner of the Boston Authors Award for young adult literature 2000, To Race a Dream, and Under a Different Sky, which School Library Journal called in a starred review "endlessly fascinating and appealing." She lives in western Massachusetts.

Reviews

[Sarah B · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was so totally immersive that it deserves 6 stars! I got into reading this so much that the real world almost faded away because I was traveling with young 14-year-old Alexa through the hills and saddles of New Zealand as she struggles to reach an isolated blue lake. Why? Because she really wants to see the otters even if people tell her otters are not found in New Zealand. Still her heart draws her there. Its just something she has to do. Its almost a vision quest or a religious experience; just her, her dog Max and her elderly horse named Hobo.

The descriptions in here are so detailed and vivid! And the majority of the story is just Alexa out in nature, traveling and later trying to survive. And the snow comes. And she has no shelter or supplies.

Another character in the story is her 16-year-old brother Tod. He is proud that his sheep rearing father is taking him out on his very first muster. To bring in the sheep for the winter. The problem is that his sister wanted to go on the muster really badly. And she doesn't understand why can't she go when she can ride just as well as Tod? And this is the thing that spurs her to go on her own trip, in secret. Because Alexa told no one that she was going. ..

Truly incredible writing!! The details of plant names and things were amazing. And its these details that makes it seem so real. And the story is full of horses, danger and quite moments with nature.

This book has many similarities to Where
the Crawdads Sing so if you love the nature in this popular book you should love this one too. Because Alexa is very connected to the natural world.

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sweet little book for a kid to read. I believe in otters (waitoreke).

If this weren't a kids' book I'd want to critique it more harshly. The kid probably didn't learn too much. Zero consequences for making dangerous choices. Someone isn't always going to be there to rescue you. But overall the otter imagery is nice.

[Sharon Buxton · Rating 2 out of 5]

C. Fiction, otters, ranch, New Zealand, coming of age, from stash, discard

[JJ Waggy · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a strange book. Definitely recommended in terms of good YA fiction, but I can't decide if I really like it. The characters are a tad flat in their New Zealand sheep farm, but there are otters! And otters are my favorite animal. Which is totally why I picked this up in the first place.
In the beginning, it feels like it's going to be another YA novel about finding yourself and damn the people around you, and there would be triumphant and uplifting orchestral scores if it wasn't a book. And it was...but it wasn't, also. I mean, it wasn't just that. It kind of feels like a girl's version of "Hatchet", actually, with the little struggles against natural forces, and there are growing up moments for the dog and the brother as well as the main character, and it's just, it's just...good. I realize this is lame, and a terrible review, but I can only tell you that this is a much better book than I thought it would be and I totally believe this family dynamic and this is one of the best examples of third person omniscient narrative that I've read, which is cool because that's a hard narrative to nail. So yes. Good read. Very quick, too.

[Jill · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you like adventure novels for teens or a little younger, this is a great book about a teenager who wants to be accepted by her father, but who doesn't quite fit in with the rest of her sheep-herding family in rural New Zealand. It's a little bit like My Friend Flicka but with less emphasis on the horse and more emphasis on self-discovery and self-reliance. Alexa sees how she is treated differently than the boys around her and she goes out into the mountains to find otters than an old man used to tell her about. It is a quiet, contemplative novel, best suited to avid readers who don't need constant action and suspense to hold their attention.

[Judy · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first third of the book rates about 2.5 stars.

I picked up this book because of its setting and the reference to otters. Savage's overall plot is promising, but the book would have benefitted from a stronger editor (did it have an editor?). The plot discrepancies bothered me, as did the uniform sentence structure, and there was too much repetitive description.