“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.

This fascinating picture book from National Book Award nominee and octopus expert Montgomery reveals how in April 2016, Inky the octopus escaped from the New Zealand aquarium and became an international sensation. Full color.

"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