Otto Grows Down

The other day, I was taking care of Tina's kids. I was reading to them before bedtime. They borrowed "Otto Grows Down" from the library and asked me to read it. This book is so unexpectedly weird. It is about this little boy named Otto who had a new baby sister. For his birthday wish, he wished that she was never born. I thought it was going to be the typical book about sibling rivalry. But things began to get strange after his birthday wish. Time started to go backwards. His candles lit back up, and his mom put the cake away. Then he had to return his presents to his friends. Soon his parents brought his baby sister back to the hospital. After that, life continued to go backwards. He went to school in the afternoon, returned home in the morning and then went straight to bed. When he took a bath, he went in the tub clean and came out dirty. Otto was not happy about the turn of events at all. It was particularly distressing when he had to go to the bathroom. Yuck!

While I was reading this book, I started cracking up. The story is so ridiculous. I didn't expect it at all. Rachel and Carmen were sitting on both sides of me. And they were both looking at me strangely. That didn't help matters. I couldn't stop laughing. I couldn't read anything for at least five minutes. I was laughing so hard that my eyes were tearing up. This book is so funny. I love weird books, and it is definitely weird. I don't think the girls understood it. While I was laughing, they were not amused. I kinda had to explain it to Carmen. Oh, well, I thought it was entertaining.

Otto Grows Down definitely takes a different approach to sibling rivalry. All kids can learn a thing or two from Otto Grows Down. For one, the moral of the story is, if your sibling was never born, then time will go backwards until you were never born before. Yeah, that's right. Another one is going to the bathroom when time is going backwards is not fun. So think twice about your little sister or brother...it might not be so bad.