Otterly excellent

Julie Zickefoose never disappoints me when she tells one of her animal stories on NPR. A recent story about her encounter with a 6-foot-long Amazon otter had several notable storytelling elements:

§ Suspense. You know the adorable otter is going to bite her, but she keeps you on tenterhooks all the way to the point where she tells you how it happened and how bad it was.

§ Fun facts. I wasn’t in the market for knowing more about giant otters, but the story carried me through the interesting tidbits about this animal.

§ The key message is obvious but she doesn’t beat you about the head. “Don’t pet wild animals” is the message. She breaks it to you by saying it’s a caution she gives her kids. The fact she doesn’t follow her own advice is a great way of signaling that this simple message is worth repeating.

§ The nitty-gritty-but-important details are tucked in unobtrusively. It’s important that we know she won’t get rabbies and that as an animal expert she did take some precautions. But she doesn’t make a big deal about it.

§ A terrific ending. This required a little added research. She made a list of all the animal bites she has received — a number that itself is a fun fact. But this bite from a type of otter she never thought she would ever see “gets a gold star.”