Lost Sloth - Hardcover

J. Otto Seibold is a self-taught artist from Oakland, California, best known as the author and illustrator of many renowned children’s books, among them Olive, the Other Reindeer (with Vivian Walsh). His work has been exhibited and published widely. Lost Sloth marks his twentieth anniversary in children’s books.

"Inventive and contemporary" The New York Times

A free shopping spree turns into a race against time never a happy idea when you’re a sloth.
Too logy even to get to the phone before the answering machine kicks in, Sloth learns that he has only eight hours to claim his spree at the store. Can he make it? Being narcoleptic as well as slow-moving, his ensuing odyssey quickly turns hilariously suspenseful as Seibold urges readers to form a cheering section with lines printed in a different color 'Yay, Sloth! Let’s go, Sloth!' In the characteristically stylized illustrations, Sloth’s frozen, masklike features add a Buster Keaton ish air to his frantic efforts. Having dragged his way down the street and into the park, where a hoped-for shortcut becomes a long detour/nap, Sloth arrives in the nick of time on a stolen hang glider. His spree turns out to be short but sweet, as he immediately rams his cart into a pile of pillows and passes out. The author cranks tongue further into cheek with witty side business, like a glimpse of an Occupy! camp in the park and, at the end, a one-person pillow fight ('Yay, Sloth! You won!').
Another clever, quirky outing.” Kirkus

"Seibold's distinctive stylized illustrations and oddball main character should win over even the sleepiest readers." San Francisco Chronicle
The book is a delight, graced by Seibold’s brightly colored and whimsical style...” -John McMurtrie, San Francisco Chronicle

"J. Otto Seibold cleverly posits the sloth's sluggishness alongside American consumerism, rendering it the kind of book parents will actually enjoy unpacking with their children night after night." SF Weekly

"Three hours may sound like plenty of time to you and me, but to a sloth, three hours is, like, a nanosecond. Oh, noes! How on earth is a creature that movies 5.1 to 15 feet per minute supposed to make it all the way across town to the Shopping Spree Store? And what will Sloth buy when he gets there? The answer is both surprising and ironic just like the demographic audience for this book." Denver Post

"The digital illustrations in carnival colors of bubblegum pink, white, and tropical blues and greens have all the asymmetrical charm of Seibold’s earlier work." Publishers Weekly

"The cover makes Lost Sloth look like a moody, street-art saavy book but the inside is a lot more like the boardgame Candy Land -from the saturated vector art swinging along sugar-tone streets to the hyperactive luck-of-the-draw plot contortions." -Quimby's

"Kind of googly-goggly." Rachel, age 7

J. Otto Seibold latest kiddie story is irrepressibly energized with eye-popping colors, glossy spreads, and intricately detailed patterns and shapes on every page.” Smithsonian BookDragon

Extraordinary beautiful [...] colorful, angular, pop-y, and very accessible, with loads of detail to pore over.” Boing Boing