Otis is a purple onion (or maybe a turnip). His parents are a chicken and a flower (what). The chickens and flowers are at war with each other (what). The artwork was okay but the poetry fell short. Reading this felt like a weird fever dream. It jumped around and tried to touch on a million different topics. Maybe it would have been better as a few books in a series instead of one big jumble? I’m still not entirely sure what was going on except I guess the message was that kids don’t have to imitate their parents, they can find their own way and also that racial hatred and war in general are not necessary? Or maybe that chickens shouldn’t wear combat boots? I don’t know.

Note: I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley. I was not compensated in any other fashion for the review and the opinions reflected below are entirely my own. Special thanks to the publisher and author for providing the copy.

I enjoyed the illustration style of this story and overall thought it was a great story to use as a mentor text in an elementary school classroom. I thought it taught a great lesson and I sent a copy to my niece and nephew.

Nice book. Shows differences between parents, races and other things. Little ones have to go through it and take a stand. Message is nice.

This is a fab little book and I really enjoyed it!
The images are great and the story is well written - 4 stars!

Otis Grows is a picture book written by Kathryn Hast, M.L. Phang. Young Otis is forced to question his origin and allegiances, given that his mom, a yellow chicken, is part of the Nuh-Uhs, and his dad, a blue flower, stems from the Yes-Chums. Struggling to find answers, Otis runs away, only to encounter more colors (and cultures) than he could ever imagine, including a giant portrait full of possibilities.

Otis Grows is a picturebook with wonderful illustrations, and great intentions- but it requires a lot of shrugging off the impossible. Otis is an onion, and the child of an flower and a chicken- how is that even a thing? I think the culture and acceptance theme could have been served just as well- and less disturbingly to this avid gardener-if the parents were plants from opposite ends of the garden bed. But, that is just me. I did like how Otis explored and discovered how different- and yet the same- everyone is. I also liked the exploration of how we each change- although I am not sure the target audience really has to worry about the 'odor of growing older' quite yet. I loved the theme and the message of the book, and the life lessons that it is intent on teaching.

Otis Grows is an interesting tale- I loved that love and acceptance wins out and is show to be so important, but fort he book to be esoteric enough that I think many will get so caught up in the oddity that they will miss the beauty of the artwork and the intent behind the story.

This nearly wordless picture book is something else. I do not think it could be entirely wordless and make sense. It barely makes sense with the few words it has. Apparently a chicken and a flower are parents to a turnip. But the chicken and the flower are not nice to each other. They fight a lot! Otis goes off to discover different things in life and that as he grows, the world around him grows as well. The illustrator does a great job, but they need to be paired with a writer who can make this book come to life. As it is, it is just a confusing mess. The story is not a simple one to understand from the pictures. Study up on Chris Van Allsburg who knew how to make a wordless book work great.

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Otis Grows by Kathryn Hast Otis is the story of an onion with parents who seem to disagree about everything and the challenges he faces as he discovers who he is and who he wants to be. While the story is a bit far-fetched, it excellently portrays how children might be feeling in this most recent political climate. This story would be a good read for children and adults alike. I am very impressed with the flow of writing and depiction of tough topics. It is wonderful for children to see that they have power in deciding who they want to be and a good reminder for adults to be more aware of their actions and impact on children.

I received this ARC from LuJu Books via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

A cute story of a family that is different. Differences cause Otis to question who he really is and ultimately what he believes. Big topics covered in an age appropriate way.

1.5 star

The points go to the beautiful illustration and that alone. The story had potential but was quite forgettable but what irked me is the font itself. I mean, it's a picture book and with this kind of story a more whimsical font could have done wonders.

This was a great book in concept, but the execution fell flat. I'm honestly not 100% sure what the message was supposed to be. At times it felt like it was showing how there are two political sides that are so busy arguing with each other that they can't see the forest for the trees. At others, it was about a child coming from two different parents who didn't always see the world in the same way, but that we should learn from all that we experience and then use it to become a stronger person. Then there was a whole section about famous innovative thinkers and doers which just lost me completely. There are probably a few great stories in there, but as one book it didn't make sense. I also had a really hard time with the Yes-Chums and Nuh-uhs. Finally, if these two sides hated each other so much, then how in the world did they have an onion baby of their own?!?

Liked: Art

Disliked: This is a weird book it has all these messages about finding yourself, racism, and biracial-ness. It looks at historical figures from past (who are human). I feel it all gets jumbled and does not really work for me.

This is the story of Little Otis. His mother is a big yellow chicken and his father is a blue flower and Otis is a purple onion. Not sure how that all happened but it is a children's book. His mother is part of the Nuh-uhs and is father is part of the Yes-Chums. The 2 groups do not get along at all, and Otis is caught in the middle. In the end both parents are proud of how Otis has grown though.

I am not positive if this book is about divorce or battling races. The book is a bit hard to figure out for ma as an adult. The kids enjoyed the pictures though and they love any story read to them.

The illustrations are well-done, but the story itself is too disjointed to be enjoyable. An onion is the child of a chicken and a flower. The chickens and the flowers are at perpetual war with each other. The onion meets a talking crystal. Oh, and there's a wall of artwork depicting great humans of history. Too much, too weirdly joined together to work well.

Appropriate text and illustrations for the age range. Loved the complex ideas, emotions, and diversity covered. Will be recommending.

Heavy handed much?

Do you remember reading Dr. Suess's The Sneeches? Remember how they argued if the ones with stars were better or the ones without? That was of course about prejudices. It was a light hearted way about telling it, and getting kids to laugh at how silly this was.

This book...doesn't. It just is a little to heavy handed with Tulip like creatures that have boots that fight Chicken like creatures, and a little onion who is the product of two of these very different creatures, but finds that the whole rest of the world is not fighting, and why should his parents and their like do so.

So, no, didn't work for me. Wasn't fun or funny.

Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review.