Take one mom, add her two hands, mix in three young children, and you have the perfect recipe for fun! Like all moms, she needs to help her children with washing hair, brushing teeth, playing video games, stirring a pot of spaghetti, reading a child’s favorite book—sometimes all at the same time! My Mom is an Octopus is a delightfully illustrated story for pre-readers and early readers that will keep you smiling and laughing from start to finish. This is one book you’ll want to share over and over again!
Edutopia's "25 Essential Middle School Reads from the Last Decade," NPR Best Book of 2018, Bank Street List for Best Children's Books of 2019, Named to the Vermont Dorothy Canfield Fisher List, Maine's Student Book Award List, Louisiana Young Reader's Choice Award List, Rhode Island Middle School Book Award 2020 List, 2020 Oklahoma Sequoyah Book Award Nominee, 2021 South Carolina Junior Book Award Nominee, 2020-2021 Truman Award (Missouri) Nominee, Middle School Virginia Readers’ Choice Titles for 2020–2021, Charlie May Simon Award 2020–2021 List, South Carolina Book Awards Nominee, 2020–2021, and 2023 Rebecca Caudill Young Readers Book Award nominee. Some people can do their homework. Some people get to have crushes on boys. Some people have other things they've got to do. Seventh-grader Zoey has her hands full as she takes care of her much younger siblings after school every day while her mom works her shift at the pizza parlor. Not that her mom seems to appreciate it. At least there's Lenny, her mom's boyfriend—they all get to live in his nice, clean trailer. At school, Zoey tries to stay under the radar. Her only friend Fuchsia has her own issues, and since they're in an entirely different world than the rich kids, it's best if no one notices them. Zoey thinks how much easier everything would be if she were an octopus: eight arms to do eight things at once. Incredible camouflage ability and steady, unblinking vision. Powerful protective defenses. Unfortunately, she's not totally invisible, and one of her teachers forces her to join the debate club. Even though Zoey resists participating, debate ultimately leads her to see things in a new way: her mom’s relationship with Lenny, Fuchsia's situation, and her own place in this town of people who think they're better than her. Can Zoey find the courage to speak up, even if it means risking the most stable home she's ever had? This moving debut novel explores the cultural divides around class and the gun debate through the eyes of one girl, living on the edges of society, trying to find her way forward.
A little boy finds himself waiting for his mom, who is busy with his younger sibling and her chores, again. “I'm sick of being patient,” he pouts, and he begins to imagine what life would be like if Mom could ignore her other responsibilities and give him her undivided attention. What if his mom had, say, eight hands rather than two? Suddenly, he wishes for a magical, mysterious transformation, and “An Octopus Named Mom” makes her debut. After Mom becomes an octopus and the ultimate multitasker, the little boy's life is altogether different, and seems to be a lot of fun. He slowly starts to realize, however, that as great as his life is now, his mother was perfect just the way she was.
What happens when a little boy demands too muchfrom his mother? He wishes she was an octopus of course!With eight arms, there is so much she can do all at once!Go on an adventure with Aidan and his little sister to see whatit's like having an Octopus Mom!
Shona Keenan's son Lachlan at age four said exactly how she felt - there was not enough of her to go around. What amazed her was that he gave the tentacles to the phone, kitchen, laundry, work, siblings etc, first. And tentacle eight just wanted he and her to be together. This Book explains why we may not be with our children as much as we may wish, but also provides some humour into the extremely busy life of a mother. From one child to another. From one mother to another.
Finalist for the National Book Award for Nonfiction * New York Times Bestseller * A Huffington Post Notable Nonfiction Book of the Year * One of the Best Books of the Month on Goodreads * Library Journal Best Sci-Tech Book of the Year * An American Library Association Notable Book of the Year “Sy Montgomery’s The Soul of an Octopus does for the creature what Helen Macdonald’s H Is for Hawk did for raptors.” —New Statesman, UK “One of the best science books of the year.” —Science Friday, NPR Another New York Times bestseller from the author of The Good Good Pig, this “fascinating…touching…informative…entertaining” (The Daily Beast) book explores the emotional and physical world of the octopus—a surprisingly complex, intelligent, and spirited creature—and the remarkable connections it makes with humans. In pursuit of the wild, solitary, predatory octopus, popular naturalist Sy Montgomery has practiced true immersion journalism. From New England aquarium tanks to the reefs of French Polynesia and the Gulf of Mexico, she has befriended octopuses with strikingly different personalities—gentle Athena, assertive Octavia, curious Kali, and joyful Karma. Each creature shows her cleverness in myriad ways: escaping enclosures like an orangutan; jetting water to bounce balls; and endlessly tricking companions with multiple “sleights of hand” to get food. Scientists have only recently accepted the intelligence of dogs, birds, and chimpanzees but now are watching octopuses solve problems and are trying to decipher the meaning of the animal’s color-changing techniques. With her “joyful passion for these intelligent and fascinating creatures” (Library Journal Editors’ Spring Pick), Montgomery chronicles the growing appreciation of this mollusk as she tells a unique love story. By turns funny, entertaining, touching, and profound, The Soul of an Octopus reveals what octopuses can teach us about the meeting of two very different minds.
Be glad your dad is not a dog, because he would lick your face to say hello! Most of the time, you're glad your dad is your dad, until he gets grouchy, bossy, or just totally gross. Then you wish you could swap him for something else. But be careful what you wish for, because it could be way worse.... In this silly what-if story, kids will roar with laughter at the misadventures of a monkey dad, an alligator dad, a whale dad, and even a unicorn dad! But nothing can replace the dads who love them more than anything in the whole wide world. Be sure to check out the fun facts about the animals in the story in the back of the book!
Four separate stories celebrate the many-legged friendship between Squid and Octopus as they disagree over how to stay warm, encourage each other, and fret over the contents of a fortune cookie. Full color.
A young boy imagines his mother having various animal abilities to help him with his shortcomings. He fantasizes about all the amazing things his mom would be able to do. But is this really the right solution? Maybe something better can be done to solve his problems.
