About the Author

Karen Wallace says octopuses have always had a special place in her imagination, from the storybook monsters of folklore to the young octopus she once watched escape from a fish trap, climb down a ladder, and sink back into the safety of the sea.

Mike Bostock, while illustrating GENTLE GIANT OCTOPUS, became fascinated by his subjects--the delicate changing color and texture of their skin, the rubbery, rippling way they move, and their transparent soap-bubble-like babies.

Reviews

A wonderful tie-in to nature or science units about the sea and its inhabitants.
—School Library Journal

In a picture-book format, this science book presents information on the giant octopus . . . The bold, bright watercolor illustrations help the odd-looking creature become more accessible to young audiences, making this excellent for reading aloud in a classroom setting.
—Booklist

Brief text and watercolor paintings describe how a female giant octopus moves, protects herself, and lays her eggs . . . With its striking artwork, it will make an enticing read-aloud for children interested in this fascinating sea creature.
—School Library Journal

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. (Oct.)

A wonderful tie-in to nature or science units about the sea and its inhabitants.
-School Library Journal

In a picture-book format, this science book presents information on the giant octopus . . . The bold, bright watercolor illustrations help the odd-looking creature become more accessible to young audiences, making this excellent for reading aloud in a classroom setting.
-Booklist

Brief text and watercolor paintings describe how a female giant octopus moves, protects herself, and lays her eggs . . . With its striking artwork, it will make an enticing read-aloud for children interested in this fascinating sea creature.
-School Library Journal