1.5 stars
I don't like Otis because he likes causing mischief. Unlike Ramona who only gets into scrapes because she gets carried away by her curiosity and energy, Otis actively seeks trouble which made it hard to enjoy this book.

3.25⭐

Happy readings!!!!❤️

The boys favorite.

This was my favorite of all of Beverly Cleary's books. Otis was a mischievous boy and I identified with him because I was a mischievous girl at that age.

I somehow missed putting this Beverly Cleary classic on my "read" list. It's amazing that I still remember bits of the story after all these years. I remember being such a "girly girl" that I wanted Ellen and Otis to grow up and fall in love!

I had forgotten the rather troublesome portrayal of Native Americans. So I stopped the book and talked about stereotypes and unflattering portrayals and who Native American's really are. I think that if I keep this up, my kids will hate listening to old books with me.

Beverly Cleary at her best. She takes Otis, the thorn in sweet Ellen Tebbits' side and makes him real and lovable. Love that Beverly.

Otis Spofford is definitely dated. Otis the Bad Indian chapter is the worst. And cheating collecting insects for the football player is going to need some discussion. The illustrations Otis Spofford (Ellen & Otis, #2) by Beverly Cleary by Tracy Dockray are slightly modernized which doesn't make sense at all for the dated references and Ellen's wardrobe of neat, clean, starched school dresses.

I didn't read Otis as ADHD. I know what ADHD looks like in boys and I think Otis is smart and bored in school. He doesn't have any adult supervision and longs for attention. The only way he can get it is to act out. He's clever and creative and recognizes when he's done wrong. I think a kid with ADHD would run on home with his skates and not worry about the bus floor or remember what happened to his shoes. A kid with ADHD wouldn't recognize his behavior as inappropriate the way Otis does.

I'm like Ellen and rise to the bait easily making the boys tease more. I like Ellen's best friend better because she encourages Ellen to get back at Otis. That's not right either but frankly he deserves it because nothing else is getting through to him.

Though the "science experiment" with rats chapter is also incredibly, horribly dated, it's interesting and I like how Otis latches on to Mutt. That was sweet and one could dig more deeply and see how Otis is desperate for unconditional love even from a lab rat. I wanted to feel bad for him but he's so awful, I couldn't. I just didn't like him at all.

This one was probably inspired by the "grubby" little school boys demanding stories about kids like them

This wasn't my favorite Beverly Cleary book - Otis is a stinker. It was still a cute read, though.

This was a good book to read aloud to the boys. It was pretty silly, but it also made them uncomfortable because Otis can be so mean. That was good to talk through. The boys really know that teasing is not ok, which is great to hear.

A cute book chronicling the naughty journey of Otis, who enjoys the attention from being in trouble. He goes from one scenario to another, mainly at school where the landlord can't watch. There's no mention of a father in his life, but he is raised by a mother who seems to work most of the time at a dance school. Mischievous Otis seems to both annoy and amuse the teacher, who is the focal point adult in the book. The stories go from a bizarre play where Otis is playing a bull, to a bug disaster, mouse feeding, cutting off a girl's pigtails (I would have done worse in revenge to the little brat) and pig-tail adventures. Kids should enjoy the stories for the fun they're meant to be in the end.

Otis is a handful. He likes a little excitement as he calls it, but it’s really just trouble. My daughter is more like otis than my son. So we kinda looked at her often during this book and she’d innocently say “what?”. But she knew what! I read 5/6 chapters while in Hawaii on vacation. And I think we’ll always think of otis and Ellen when we think of Hawaii. Cleary writes the best books. I did change Indian for Native American during that chapter. And my son read some to us and he changed Indian to native too. We had a discussion about that language and when this book was written. Over all it was a great book, especially for a rowdy child. Not just boys, girls can be like otis too.