A little boy makes an unconventional choice of a first pet when he takes home an octopus from the pet store. Soon he thinks perhaps this was not the best choice until his remarkable new friend shows him he has learned to read and write! They enjoy learning together, learning about the world, friendship and finding your true place.
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.
Captured By an Octopus is about a mermaid named Irina. Irina ignores a warning and gets captured by an octopus and the sea creatures who work for him. In trying to escape the octopus’ clutches, she ends up going down several tunnels, falling down stairs, and breaking her arm. Through it all, she has to figure out how to get away from the octopus and back to her friends.
Oliver is a purple octopus that encounters many adventures and misadventures on his heroic oceanic journey to save the world. Having never travelled outside the reef enclosing Gibbous Bay, Oliver now has to travel across the ocean on a magic quest. Not only is he challenged by his own internal struggles, but he must overcome sea creatures intent on seeing him and his quest fail. He shows the reader that no matter how you see yourself, or how you are seen by others that anyone can overcome adversity. By persevering and never giving up, Oliver proves dreams can come true!
Oliver Octopus, who was born with five arms instead of eight, has trouble getting hired for a job because he is physically different from what people expect.
Perfect for gift-giving, here isTHE alphabet book to top all others, an over-sized work of brilliance from the illustrator of the #1 New York Times bestselling The Day the Crayons Quit! If words make up the stories and letters make up the words, then stories are made up of letters. In this menagerie we have stories made of words, made FOR all the letters. The most inventive and irresistible book of the year spans a mere 26 letters (don't they all!) and 112 pages. From an Astronaut who's afraid of heights, to a Bridge that ends up burned between friends, to a Cup stuck in a cupboard and longing for freedom, Once Upon an Alphabet is a creative tour de force from A through Z. Slyly funny in a way kids can't resist, and gorgeously illustrated in a way readers of all ages will pour over, this series of interconnected stories and characters explores the alphabet in a way that will forever raise the bar. In Once Upon an Alphabet, #1 New York Times bestseller Oliver Jeffers has created a stunning collection of words and artwork that is a story book, alphabet book, and gorgeously designed art book all in one. Praise for ONCE UPON AN ALPHABET: An Amazon Best Book of 2014! A Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year! A School Library Journal Best Book of the Year! A New York Times Bestseller! * "The silly, spare, slightly surreal text occasionally rhymes and endlessly surprises. An utterly delightful alphabet book."–Kirkus Review, starred review * "With wry humor, equally droll ink illustrations, and a solid dose of alliteration, Jeffers creates delightful mini-narratives for each letter of the alphabet."–Publishers Weekly, starred review * "An altogether stimulating, surprising, and satisfying reading experience."–School Library Journal, starred review * "Whimsical, funny, occasionally tragic, and highly entertaining, this collection of (sometimes) interlocking tales is brilliantly inventive."–Horn Book, starred review "Jeffers knows how to catch the attention of his young audience while challenging their imagination, intellect and vocabulary. This whimsical exploration of letters and language begs to be read over and over again."–BookPage "Handsome, humorous and clad in bright tomato-red, [this] is the sort of book you may want to rush into the arms of imaginative, good-natured children between 4 and 10 years old. [T]his is no traditional abecedarian exercise.The stories are wonderfully varied, sometimes philosophical and often end surprisingly; the drawings are just as quirky and unpredictable."–The Wall Street Journal "[W]itty from A to Z . . . no one would blame you for having a copy even if there are no kids in the house. Think of it as Edward Gorey for the preschool set — and their hip parents."–The Washington Post
Read Along or Enhanced eBook: When Nora hears a soft "tap, tap, tap" at her bedroom window she never expects it to be the tentacle of a very large octopus, but that's exactly what it is--an octopus on her apartment building. The octopus turns out to be a very neighborly sort of octopus, helping the residents to wash their cars or weed the window boxes, and Nora makes fast friends with him. But one morning, the octopus is nowhere in sight. Has he moved on already? And just when Nora wanted to bring him for Show and Tell!
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.
