Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1427230 in Books
• Published on: 2000-03-06
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 32 pages

From Publishers Weekly
The Giant octopus's tentacles can grow to 150 feet, but in this graceful work the deep-sea creature seems tender and vulnerable. Wallace (previously paired with Bostock for Think of an Eel) uses two types of narrative. Facts are set in wavy lines of text, running concurrently with a story about a mother octopus's gestation, parturition and death. The story brims with poetic turns of phrase: a Wolf eel "darts from the shadows. His teeth strike like daggers. He rips off a tentacle. Then sinks like a nightmare deep into his den." The mother octopus defends herself through escape (shooting backward "by sucking in seawater and pumping it out"), camouflage (turning "very pale or very dark within seconds") and hiding ("Octopuses don't have any bones, and they can squeeze through the tiniest of holes"). Safe in her den, she lays eggs that "hang from the roof like grapes on a string." Bostock's thoughtfully composed watercolors are tactile, accurate and extremely attractive: rubbery tentacles undulate or creep on powerful suction cups; bubble-like babies swim up from their rock-bound nursery, out of which the mother's listless eye peers?their nursery will become her crypt. This seamless weave of text and illustration offers a welcome counterpoint to popular depictions (e.g., Verne's and others) of the octopus as deep-sea villain. Ages 5-8.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal
Kindergarten-Grade 2-Brief text and watercolor paintings describe how a female giant octopus moves, protects herself, and lays her eggs. The illustrations have a sense of drama; in one picture, the octopus fills the whole page, her long tentacles flying behind her in the blue-green ocean. At one point, a crab attacks and an eel rips off a tentacle with its daggerlike teeth. Each page has just a few sentences in large print, but they provide a basic introduction to the animal and many interesting facts. Although this book is classified as nonfiction, the information is related as a story. With its striking artwork, it will make an enticing read-aloud for children interested in this fascinating sea creature and for primary-grade science lessons.
Adele Greenlee, Bethel College, St. Paul, MN
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Customer Reviews

sharon's revew
i think it is really bad and not teaching the children good things about the octupuss.

An Informative Book, Beautifully Illustrated
This would interest any child who likes sea creatures. Plenty of facts, poetically worded, and presented in small digestible blocks. The illustrations are beautifully drawn and coloured.