The following version of this book was used to create this study guide: Applegate, Katherine. Odder. Macmillan. 2022. Kindle.

Odder is a middle grade novel. It is narrated by an omniscient narrator who moves from past to present in different section. The narrator also oscillates between third-person and second-person imperative tense. The novel is told in verse and is made up of dozens of tiny, page-long chapters. Occasionally, illustrations are presented to enhance the story.

“Part One: The Queen of Play (Monterey Bay, California and Environs)” begins with the narrator explaining to readers that sharks sometimes bite and kill animals or surfers who they cannot actually eat. One such shark swims in the Monterey Bay looking for food because he has not eaten anything in days. Meanwhile, Odder (who is designated otter #156 by the humans who have a tracker on her), floats in the bay with her best friend, Kairi.

Odder wants to play because she loves adventure and fun. Kairi feels sick and wants to rest and eat. However, Odder dives beneath the waves and urges Kairi to come with her out of the shallows of Elkhorn Slough and into the deep sea that is full of danger. Odder approaches a kayak and sniffs the human inside it because she likes humans because they had helped her before. Kairi scolds her and urges her away. Kairi feels sick and slow.

She asks Odder to tell her the story of the 50. Odder obliges and tells Kairi the scary story of how the humans had hunted otters down until there were only 50 of them left. Then, other humans had worked to bring the otter population back up and away from the brink of extinction. The shark smells the otters and watches them from afar. He decides to go after Kairi because she is slow.

Odder finishes her story and urges Kairi further into the ocean. Kairi begs to go back because she is frightened. Odder does not listen, but then she sees a shark approaching them. The shark nips Kairi’s tail once, and then Odder attacks the great white shark. She distracts him long enough for Kairi to escape. The shark bites Odder in her stomach and breaks his tooth. He spits Odder out and swims away, still hungry. Odder nearly blacks out, but she manages to swim to shore and haul herself up to the sand. People gather around and call the aquarium. Scientists who Odder recognizes them and realizes she is being taken to the aquarium where she learned to be an otter. She is given surgery and put back in her old cage.

“Part Two: How To Be An Otter Pup (Three Years Earlier)” goes back in time three years to when Odder was a pup. Her mother, Ondine, took care of her every day. However, one day she wrapped Odder in seaweed so she could go hunt, but a storm blew in and untangled Odder, then swept her up to shore. Scientists from the aquarium found her, but they could not find her mother.

They took her to the aquarium and tried to raise her into an otter who could be returned to the wild. She slowly learned to trust the humans, and they became a sort of family to her. One day, they put her in the big tank with the other otters so she could learn how to dive. She met two other otters, Gracie and Holly, who had lived their whole lives in the aquarium. One day, Odder’s favorite human took her outside the aquarium and back to the ocean. She was overjoyed, but terrified. She and her human swam in the sea together every day for weeks. One day, she saw a group of otters playing and decided to leave her beloved human to experience freedom.

In “Part Three: Otter #209 (The Present),” Odder recovers from surgery after the shark attack. The same humans who raised her take care of her now. While recovering, Odder feels guilty about endangering Kairi and being reckless. She promises to be more cautious and sensible. However, she worries she will stay in the aquarium forever now that she has been injured. When she recovers and is placed in the big tank, she smells Kairi. Gracie and Holly tell her that Kairi had been rescued by the scientists because she had the shaking sickness and was pregnant. However, she had a stillborn pup and had not been back in the big tank since then.

Odder falls into a dark depression and does not want to play or eat. The humans decide that Odder will have to stay in the aquarium permanently because of her injury and because she is too curious and trusting with humans. They decide to call her “Jazz.” One day, they bring her up to the rooftop pool where she finds Kairi and a foster pup. Odder is excited to see Kairi, but the otter pup makes her feel sad about her lost youth.

A few days later, the scientists bring Odder a foster pup of her own. At first, she rejects the pup. She thinks she has nothing to teach the pup and that she would not be a good mother. Kairi tells Odder that she can teach the pup to play. Odder finally sees that she can help the pup and she accepts him as her own. Six months later, she and Kairi say goodbye to their pups, who are released into the ocean.