Inky's Amazing Escape: How a Very Smart Octopus Found His Way Home

by Sy Montgomery (Author), Amy Schimler-Safford (Illustrator)

New
Picture Book
2018
$19.93

Montgomery's expertise and the gorgeous illustrations make this a fine purchase for libraries serving early elementary students. --School Library Journal
The mixed-media illustrations make good use of dynamic spreads, color, and texture--perfect for a book on a master of camouflage. Montgomery seamlessly incorporates interesting facts about octopuses into the narrative. --Booklist
Learn all about Inky the Octopus, an international sensation known for escaping from the New Zealand aquarium in April 2016, in this fascinating picture book from National Book Award nominee and octopus expert Sy Montgomery.
Inky had been at the New Zealand aquarium since 2014 after being taken in by a fisherman who found him at sea. Inky had been getting used to his new environment, but the staff quickly figured out that he had to be kept amused or he would get bored. Then one night in 2016 Inky, about the size of a basketball, decided he'd had enough. He slithered eight feet across the floor and down a drainpipe more than 160 feet long to his home in the sea.
Acclaimed author Sy Montogmery reminds readers that Inky didn't escape--but instead, like the curious animal he is, wanted to explore the rest of the vast ocean he called his home.

Synopsis

Montgomery's expertise and the gorgeous illustrations make this a fine purchase for libraries serving early elementary students. --School Library Journal

The mixed-media illustrations make good use of dynamic spreads, color, and texture--perfect for a book on a master of camouflage. Montgomery seamlessly incorporates interesting facts about octopuses into the narrative. --Booklist

Learn all about Inky the Octopus, an international sensation known for escaping from the New Zealand aquarium in April 2016, in this fascinating picture book from National Book Award nominee and octopus expert Sy Montgomery.

Inky had been at the New Zealand aquarium since 2014 after being taken in by a fisherman who found him at sea. Inky had been getting used to his new environment, but the staff quickly figured out that he had to be kept amused or he would get bored. Then one night in 2016 Inky, about the size of a basketball, decided he'd had enough. He slithered eight feet across the floor and down a drainpipe more than 160 feet long to his home in the sea.

Acclaimed author Sy Montogmery reminds readers that Inky didn't escape--but instead, like the curious animal he is, wanted to explore the rest of the vast ocean he called his home.

$19.93

Save:$0.87 (4%)

Quantity

4 in stock

More Information

Format: Picture Book
Pages: 32
Edition: Illustrated
Publisher: Simon & Schuster/Paula Wiseman Books
Published: 01 Nov 2018
ISBN 10: 1534401911
ISBN 13: 9781534401914

Media Reviews

In 2016, an octopus named Inky made global news by escaping from New Zealand's National Aquarium. This story recounts that event and imagines Inky's pre- and postaquarium life in the wild. Each octopus set out on a journey alone. They're born ready to explore, Montgomery (How to Be a Good Creature) writes in her direct, deeply respectful prose. At birth, Inky is the size of a grain of rice, and his considerable intellect and ultrapliable body stand him in good stead as he grows until, baseball-size and bitten, he's scooped up in a fisherman's net and taken to an aquarium. Life in captivity means crab snacks, toys (he plays with Lego blocks and Mr. Potato Head), and tickles from his trainer. But his innate curiosity wins out, and one night, Inky slips out of his tank and slides into a floor drain that leads back to the ocean. Textured mixed-media collages by Schimler-Safford (Hidden City) playfully evoke underwater scenes with brilliant hues. Inky regards the world with eager, lightly anthropomorphized googly eyes, but he's never over-romanticized and emerges as a wily, winning personality. A final spread offers more octopus facts for eager learners. -- Publishers Weekly--Publishers Weekly September 3, 2018

Author Bio

Sy Montgomery is a naturalist, documentary scriptwriter, and author of twenty acclaimed books of nonfiction for adults and children, including the National Book Award finalist The Soul of an Octopus and the memoir The Good Good Pig, a New York Times bestseller. The recipient of numerous honors, including lifetime achievement awards from the Humane Society and the New England Booksellers Association, she lives in New Hampshire with her husband, border collie, and flock of chickens. Amy Schimler-Safford started her career in textile and surface design. She now illustrates children's books and lives on a lake in Georgia with her family and lots of country critters, all of whom provide Amy with a constant source of amusement and inspiration.