Otto's Backwards Day

Otto

by Frank Cammuso, Jay Lynch (Contributor)

Someone stole Otto's birthday. When Otto the cat and his robot sidekick, Toot, follow the crook, they discover a topsy-turvy world where rats chase cats and people wear underpants over their clothes.

Genres: Graphic Novels, Picture Books, Comics, Childrens, 1st Grade, Animals

31 pages, Library Binding

First published August 6, 2013

About the author

Frank Cammuso is the author/illustrator of the graphic novel series The Misadventures of Salem Hyde from Amulet Books. He also created the graphic novel series Knights of the Lunch Table from Graphix/Scholastic. Frank drew the comic Otto’s Orange Day and Otto’s Backwards Day for Toon-Books. He also wrote and drew his self-published graphic novel Max Hamm Fairy Tale Detective, for which he received an Eisner nomination.


Frank is the former award-winning political cartoonist for The Post-Standard newspaper in Syracuse, NY. His cartoons have been reprinted in The New York Times, The Washington Post, USA Today and Newsweek.

He has written fiction and satire with his good friend Hart Seely. Their work has appeared in The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Village Voice, Slate, and on National Public Radio. He’s the co-author of 2007-Eleven and Other American Comedies.


Cammuso currently teaches Sequential Illustration part-time at his alma mater, Syracuse University. He lives with his family in frosty Syracuse, NY, where they enjoy all things comics!

Reviews

[Becky · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kind of silly, as many kid graphic novels are. But I liked the lesson that sharing special days with family and friends is more important than presents. And it’s a good lesson in palindromes.

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

From the same author who gave us the Toon book Otto's Orange Day, Otto the cat is back hoping to celebrate his birthday -- with a lot of presents. Unfortunately his parents think he is missing the point of his birthday celebration and they send him to his room to think about it. All of a sudden someone comes to steal all of his birthday decorations and presents as well as his cake and Otto has to have the help of a neighbor's robot (the neighbor is a scientist of course). Otto learns that they are going to a place where everything is backwards (they wear their underwear on the outside!) and the reader is introduced to palindromes -- words spelled the same forwards and backwards. Otto finds out his name is a palindrome as is Toot the robot who is taking him to this world. In the same vein as Otto's Orange Day, Otto learns a lesson after a number of adventures. Primary readers will enjoy another beginning graphic novel about Otto.

[Shelli · Rating 4 out of 5]

Otto's Backwards Day is an exciting picture book/graphic novel for young readers. The story line was humorous and it would be a good read-aloud or independent book (2nd grade reading level). I also enjoyed the moral about being less materialist and appreciating your family and friends. Good for reluctant readers and a nice addition to any elementary classroom or library.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Super cute book I "impulse borrowed" from the library for my 7 year old. Simply jam-packed with palindromes, it teaches about that concept using a simple and appealing story about Otto's birthday accidentally getting stolen by "backwards land" in which every word that isn't a palindrome gets messed up. I guess Otto shouldn't have tried to have his birthday a day early...

[Ramona Cantaragiu · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wish there were more books in the series. I adore the illustrations, they make the story even funnier and the fact that this is made for young readers taking into account their reading abilities is awesome.

[Angie Munoz · Rating 3 out of 5]

This graphic book would be appropriate for second grade students. Very fun book to read.

[Meg · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a great sequel to Otto's Orange Day. In this book Otto is having a birthday party. He loves the presents more than his family coming. Will that change or not...

[Nora · Rating 5 out of 5]

This one is way better. It's Otto's birthday.

[Robin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Palindrome and a backwards land make this clever story fun.

[Kaitlyn]

Title: Otto’s Backwards Day
Author:Frank Cammuso,
Illustrator: Jay Lynch
Genre:Graphic Novel
Theme(s): finding something lost.
Opening line/sentence: Woah look at that cake!
Brief Book Summary: This is a book about Otto the cat who only cares about presents for his birthday and not his friends or family.
Professional Recommendation/Review #1: Toon Book series. It's cat Otto's birthday, and he cares more about presents and cake than friends and family. When Otto's birthday is stolen, he goes into a backwards land where palindromes, opposites, and all things "topsy-turvy" abound. Even birthdays are backwards there, which helps Otto figure out what they're really about. Bright cartoon illustrations and a graphic-novel format will engage emergent readers.
Professional Recommendation/Review #2: A quick trip to the "backwards world" straightens out Otto the cat's priorities as well as his spelling. Having blithely announced that birthdays are more about cake, ice cream, balloons and, especially, gifts than family and friends, Otto is understandably peeved when all his party trappings are stolen. Following the thief through a gateway dubbed "the Palindrome" leads Otto to a cube-shaped world. There, garbage is dropped on the ground rather than in cans, and clothes are reversed ("Maybe next time you'll listen to your mom and wear clean underwear," snarks companion robot Toot). An adventuresome chase leads to the lair of Evil Olive--a tubby, green gent in the bright, cleanly drawn cartoon illustrations, topped with a red fez in place of a pimiento. Strewn with palindromes and reversed words that even emergent readers will have no trouble decoding, the miniodyssey leaves Otto in the right place: back home, partying with newly appreciated friends and family until latest invitee Evil Olive arrives with the stolen goodies. A snappy follow-up to Otto's Orange Day (2008), gift-wrapped around a worthy theme and frosted with tasty wordplay.
Response to Two Professional Reviews: I agree with the reviewers, the bright illustration helps portray the message to the children. I also agree that the method of presenting the information was done in an effective manner. This book is set up in comic book manor which makes each page inviting and easy to follow.
Evaluation of Literary Elements: I did not like this book for my classroom. The message was not strong enough. I would be able to use this book as a brain break but I cannot see myself using it for much more.
Consideration of Instructional Application: When my students are tired after a lengthy math lesson I would use this book to bring their focus on something else. I could read the book in sections and then we could work on making predictions. I could leave a big poster board next to the chair in which I will read.

[Sonia Contreras · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book Otto’s Backwards Day is about a young cat named Otto who is very excited for his birthday. Inthe beginning of the book, he arrives home to his mom decorating for his birthday, which takes placethe following day. All he asks about are his presents. He makes it clear that all he cares about are thematerial aspects of his birthday celebration. His parents get upset and send him to his room to thinkabout his behavior. It is at that time that someone breaks into their home and takes all of the gifts andthe cake. Otto then sets on a journey to retrieve his belongings, a journey in which he learns what istruly important on his birthday.

Otto’s Backwards Day is a perfect example of what a graphic novel should look like. The format of thebook contains panels, gutters, speech bubbles, all which are important to the makeup of a graphicnovel. The use of panels in this book helps the reader move from one thought to the next. The way thecharacters are illustrated shows their emotions. The character Otto is relatable to a younger audience.He is young cat who is excited about his presents, like any child would be. This book teaches theimportance of family and friends, which is greater than anything else that can happen in a birthday.

[Dolly · Rating 3 out of 5]

We loved discovering all of the palindromes in this book. It's the second book we've read featuring an adorable cat named Otto. The story is comically absurd, but has a good message about the importance of friends and family in our lives. I love that Otto learns to be less materialistic.

I also loved the reference to Felix the cat, and I had to pull up images of him, since our girls have never heard of him before. Although the two cats are very different, I get the feeling that the author, Frank Cammuso, used Felix as inspiration for Otto.

Overall, it was a fun book to read aloud, even though the graphic novel format is usually more difficult and cumbersome to do so. We enjoyed reading this book together.

[RLL22016_Joy Bailey Bailey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Otto's Backwards Day was a really fun read. This book is about a cat name Otto who has a birthday coming up. The day before his birthday a crook steals his gift and takes them to a alternate world where they do everything backwards. On his journey to find his gifts he is accompanied by a robot name Toot who helps him find his way thru backwards world by solving and unraveling puzzles. On this journey Otto discovers a valuable lesson. At first he believed that birthdays were just about presents, cake and cool decorations until he realized that spending his birthday with family and friends are what makes birthdays special. I believe not only is this book good for teaching children about Palindrome, which are words that are spelled the same frontwards and backwards but also, valuable lessons about placing people over materialistic things. Also, the colorful and captivating pictures makes it easy to reveal the characters emotions and help tell what's going on throughout the story.

[Nick · Rating 3 out of 5]

There's not much of a story here, but the Otto books are for early readers, and this one is a lot of fun, with its palindromes and backward twists. Hmmm, I think that Frank Cammuso is training a new generation of readers for classic Superman, since most of this story felt like a mix of Bizarro and Mr. Mxyzptlk.
The one weak spot in the story was the guessing game with the sea serpent, which just fell flat. Still, I would recommend this to kids who want something short and cute. Even the life lesson didn't feel too preachy, because of the format.

[Ann Haefele · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received this as a free copy from TOON books. While not as high quality as some of their other titles, this is still a worthwhile read that will get lots of smiles and laughs from young readers. Especially good is its focus on palidromes. Kids will have fun picking out all the palidromes such as radar,star rats,and kayak. I felt that the message of the importance of family and friends fell a bit flat at the end, probably because of the over the top silliness that did not seem to end.

[Samantha · Rating 3 out of 5]

Otto learns a lesson in priorities when his birthday presents are stolen and he follows the thief into an alternate world in which everything is backwards.

The message is well woven into the story and makes for an entertaining tale that also teaches the value of people over things. The backwards world plays with language and provides many example of palindromes (words that read the same forwards as backewards as in Otto).

Recommended for grades 1-3.

[Nikki in Niagara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Otto learns about palindromes by having a backwards day in Backwards World. He's on the chase looking for his stolen birthday presents and while he learns something educational he also learns that there is something more important on birthdays than the gifts. A fun story, and just what readers of Otto's Orange Day would expect.

[Phobean · Rating 3 out of 5]

This mini graphic novel for new readers is cute, but a bit too moralizing for my tastes. I did enjoy the fun with palindromes as well as Otto's resemblance to Hobbes of the comic strip, Calvin and Hobbes.

[Andy · Rating 3 out of 5]

A nice, cute book involving all things backwards, including palindromes. The characters are fun, drawn in a sort of Calvin and Hobbes style, but the "lessons" are fairly heavy-handed, even for a kids' book. An Eisner Award nominee in the Best Publication for Early Readers (up to age 7) category.

[Candice M (tinylibrarian)]

Reviewed for Booklist

[Sue · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another Otto graphic novel for the youngest readers! tell English/language arts teachers - great for palindromes. Brilliant! Otto's backward day is a palindrome.

[Michael Rhode · Rating 4 out of 5]

Slight, but a lot of fun.

[Beverly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good beginning reader for about 2nd graders in a comic book format.

[Diana Pettis · Rating 3 out of 5]

I could definately see reading this with reluctant readers to get them excited about reading. Very well done. I have a copy if anyone wants to borrow.

[Becket · Rating 3 out of 5]

A bit message-y, but super fast-paced and funny.

[Beyond the Pages with Eva K · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this one! It was an unexpected treasure. The English/LA lesson was wonderful.

[Lorraine Der]

Library Catalog

[Rommel Sison · Rating 4 out of 5]

6-year-old daughter: 5 stars
4-year-old daughter: 5 stars

[Edward Sullivan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots of fun wordplay.