Overview

Agnes has a beak that can crush bones and arms and stretch wide as a car--but that doesn't make her a monster! After she comes across a postcard, Agnes, a giant Pacific octopus, strikes up a correspondence with various other creatures below--and above--the waves. Readers will delight in this unlikely introduction to the octopus life cycle.

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9781512439939

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Toward the end of her short life, an octopus exchanges a series of postcards with others around her, including a boy on a pier and her newly hatched eggs. Spread by spread, a simple narrative accompanied by postcard messages provides clever introduction to the life of a giant Pacific octopus. Though Latham's story is thoroughly fantastic, both author and illustrator have been respectful to this amazing creature, describing realistic behaviors and depicting her relatively accurately, right down to the rectangular pupils of her eyes and her senescent color change. Agnes the octopus squeezes herself into a jar and later into a crevice in the rocks. As 'Crabby Crab' requests, she stops eating crabs, but only because she's ready to lay her eggs. She evades a predator by ejecting a cloud of ink. She quietly tends her eggs until they hatch, and then she bids the world goodbye. She has final advice for her pen pal Andrew, too: 'You can't be mad or sad when you're swimming. Try it.' Backmatter offers further information about octopuses (including the correct plural) as well as solid suggestions for further reading. Baker's appealing collage, acrylic paint, and digital illustrations are full of deep-sea color and abound with interesting patterns and textures. They include other thoroughly recognizable sea dwellers. Certainly the most engaging of the recent wave of octopus stories, for reading aloud or reading alone. --Kirkus Reviews --Journal

Toward the end of her short life, an octopus exchanges a series of postcards with others around her, including a boy on a pier and her newly hatched eggs. Spread by spread, a simple narrative accompanied by postcard messages provides clever introduction to the life of a giant Pacific octopus. Though Latham's story is thoroughly fantastic, both author and illustrator have been respectful to this amazing creature, describing realistic behaviors and depicting her relatively accurately, right down to the rectangular pupils of her eyes and her senescent color change. Agnes the octopus squeezes herself into a jar and later into a crevice in the rocks. As 'Crabby Crab' requests, she stops eating crabs, but only because she's ready to lay her eggs. She evades a predator by ejecting a cloud of ink. She quietly tends her eggs until they hatch, and then she bids the world goodbye. She has final advice for her pen pal Andrew, too: 'You can't be mad or sad when you're swimming. Try it.' Backmatter offers further information about octopuses (including the correct plural) as well as solid suggestions for further reading. Baker's appealing collage, acrylic paint, and digital illustrations are full of deep-sea color and abound with interesting patterns and textures. They include other thoroughly recognizable sea dwellers. Certainly the most engaging of the recent wave of octopus stories, for reading aloud or reading alone.--Kirkus Reviews -- Journal (7/11/2018 12:00:00 AM)

Author Information

Irene Latham is the author of more than a dozen current and forthcoming works of poetry, fiction, and picture books. Her work includes Charlotte Huck Honor Book and ALA Notable Children's Book Can I Touch Your Hair? Poems of Race, Mistakes, and Friendship (co-written with Charles Waters) and the Caldecott Honor Book The Cat Man of Aleppo(co-written by Karim Shamsi-Basha). In 2016 she won the ILA Lee Bennett Hopkins Promising Poet Award. Visit her at www.irenelatham.com. Thea Baker is an award-winning children's book illustrator from Somerset, England. She currently lives in Australia, where she encounters many a mollusk along the beautiful coastline. Although fascinated by ocean life and a keen snorkeler, when it comes to deep water, she prefers to make observations by boat. Find her online at www.theabaker.com.

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