The novel’s most significant motif, play, represents Odder as a character and recurs at key points throughout the novel to signify her identity and her healing journey. The novel presents otters as animals as inherently being creatures of play. The very first decision Odder makes is to play before eating in the poem “to eat or not to eat” (Part 1), suggesting the importance of play in Odder’s life. Furthermore, Odder is “the queen of play” (23): Even among the otters, her acrobatic moves are exemplary. This links the play motif to Odder in particular. After establishing the motif’s association with Odder, the author uses play to signify Odder’s loss of identity after the shark attack in Part 3: Odder’s “playful, mischievous self / has vanished” (199), and she vows to “stop being Odder” (184).

Play has an important role at the story’s climax. In the poem “talking” in Part 3, Kairi reminds Odder that although she might not feel that she knows enough to help Otter #209, she does at least know how to play. Up until this point, Odder has distanced herself from what she feels was her reckless former self, including her curiosity, which fueled her play.