Gentle Giant Octopus

Nature Storybooks

by Karen Wallace, Mike Bostock (Illustrator)

Discover the mysterious, magnificent octopus!

Follow a goggle-eyed octopus as she jets through the shadows, tentacles flying behind her. Finally she finds a well-hidden den in which to lay her eggs, which will dangle from the roof like grapes on a string. In silky verse, Karen Wallace explores the mysterious world of the octopus, while Mike Bostock’s flowing illustrations bring that world vividly to life. Back matter includes an afterword, resources for further information, a glossary, and an index.

Genres: Animals, Picture Books, Science, Nonfiction, Childrens, Nature, School

32 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1998

Reviews

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I recently decorated my bathroom with pictures of sea monsters. One of the pictures is of a Kraken preparing to attack a sailing vessel. Turns out my nephew is terrified of octopuses, and my Kraken picture does not exactly leave him feeling encouraged to visit the bathroom! Obviously, this is not an ideal situation!

I don't want my nephew to fear octopuses. They are gentle, shy, curious, intelligent creatures, and they do not, as he believes, "eat people's heads." I am hoping that educating him about the true nature of the octopus will help him put this fear to rest (and I'll take down my Kraken picture when he's visiting).

I don't know if Gentle Giant Octopus has completely wiped away his fear of octopuses, but I think it did make him look at this creature in a new light, at least. He was curious about the octopus featured in this book, and he was rooting for her to find a good den in which to lay her eggs. It's a start--he wasn't covering his eyes in terror.

The book was well written and wonderfully illustrated, and it was entertainingly educational. My niece loved the book (she loves sea creatures anyway), and I was pleased with the way the octopus was presented in this book. This was a good beginning to my planned "fear not the octopus" readings.

[Sarah Sammis · Rating 5 out of 5]

The giant octopus is the largest of the 150 species of octopuses. The largest one ever found had tentacles 15 feet long. Despite their size, they are rather docile creatures with the curiosity and intelligence of the average cat.

Gentle Giant Octopus by Karen Wallace and illustrated by Mike Bostock is an introduction to the life cycle of the giant octopus and follows a female octopus as she finds the perfect place to lay her brood of eggs. Giant octopus females lay eggs only once and lock themselves in with their brood for the five months it takes for them to hatch. They die shortly after the eggs hatch.

Gentle Giant Octopus is really two books in one. There is the very informative story set in a fairly standard looking serif typeface. Then there are the extra facts included on almost every page. These are represented by wavy text that mimics the sea currents or perhaps the undulating motions of the octopus as she swims.

Bringing all these two books together are Mike Bostock's gorgeous illustrations. They are done with an attention to detail and a lightness of touch. Sometimes I just like to flip through the book to admire the pictures.

[Phuong · Rating 4 out of 5]

Maura loves octupi. I thought this book would be very dry but it was wonderfully written AND informative.

[Courtney Lloyd · Rating 3 out of 5]

Gentle Giant Octopus, by Karen Wallace, is a great book about a mother octopus. The book talks about many fun and interesting facts about an octopus. It talks about tentacles, how they have no bones, how they can change colors, and etcetera. The book continues and talks about how a mother octopus lays up to 60,000 eggs and then once she lays the eggs she does not sleep or eat until they are hatched. Once hatched the mother then dies.

The book has many different educational possibilities. It is an easy read so lower elementary children could read this book. At the end of the book, there is an index. I think that this book would be great for teachers to start of with this book to show children how an index works. It's a small list of about 13 different words so it would not be overwhelming for children to start off with. An SLP could use this book by talking about inferencing, memory and sequence of events.

[Norma Vantrease · Rating 5 out of 5]

Today I am reviewing a children's picture book by Karen Wallace entitled Gentle Giant Octopus, written for children 4-8. Ms. Wallace captures a 'slice of life' image of a Giant female octopus searching for a place to make a den and lay her eggs. The story is both entertaining and informative.

Excitement builds as the search progresses, and the octopus is bit by a crab and looses part of an arm to a Wolf eel. But all is well when she finds just the right spot to make her den.

Female octopuses die shortly after their eggs hatch. This is handled with gentleness and sensitivity at the end of the story.

There is an informative forward at the beginning and an index at the end, lending helpful information for teachers and parents. Large, colorful illustrations make this a good book to read to one child or to a whole classroom of children.

[Amelia]

This book talks about the giant octopus! It follows the story of a gentle, giant octopus and what her life is like in the underwater world. I like this story because we have giant octopus living in the northern Pacific Ocean, which is not far from our home! I also like this book because I think the octopus can be an intimidating animal, and this book does an excellent job at depicting it in a kind, gentle way, which I think can help alleviate some of that fear and anxiety surrounding the animal. Once that fear/anxiety is lessened, we can develop a deeper appreciation for what amazing creatures these really are! I think this would be an excellent book to supplement a marine biology unit!

[Rachel Coleman · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Gentle Giant Octopus" by Karen Wallace is a great nonfiction book that describes the life of an octopus. I found this book to be very fun and gives useful information about an octopus. I think this would be a great book to read to your students or have in your library. The illustrations were very well done and awesome for children to look at. I definitely recommend reading this book!

[Julie]

This book describes the life of a pregnant giant octopus: swimming, finding a home, getting attacked and protecting herself, laying her eggs, caring for them, and watching them swim away. This book is a great way to explain how octopi are born. In my classroom, I can use this to talk about ocean animals, introduce cephalopods, and increase curiosity about octopi.

[Courtney · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gentle Giant Octopus is a wonderful informational picture book that would be an excellent read aloud for students from kindergarten all they way to second grade. This book written by Karen Wallace and Illustrated by Mike Bostock follows a female octopus as she "jets" through the water, finds a place to lay her eggs, has her babies, and then her life cycle ends. This would be a great tool for units on ocean creatures, animals, or for introducing speech's or informational projects with younger kids as they can find facts within. picture book to utilize. It was also published in 2002.

[Marlina Serratos · Rating 5 out of 5]

Age 4-9 Grade Level PreK- 3rd

Gentle Giant Octopus is about the life of a curious sea creature with eight tentacles and a squishy body. I would read this to children who are younger as it gives them the opportunity to know more about others creatures and express their knowledge. I would use this book as part of a underwater theme lesson. Gentle Giant Octopus would also be a great read aloud.

[Leah · Rating 1 out of 5]

The way it is written is all prose. The children had a hard time connecting.

[Sarri Tate Gibson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Quick summary

How I would use it

Age Level

[Jenna Mills · Rating 4 out of 5]

As always informative and entertaining

[Lindy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is educational, interesting, engaging, and beautiful to look at. The illustrations really wrap it all together. I love how they made the octopus's eggs look.

[Sparrow · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sort of disjointed and oddly written.

[Lynn Davidson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a fabulous story full of fascinating facts about an amazing sea creature. Beautifully illustrated.

[Rose · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a good book for early elementary aged kids.

Tells a story about an octopus which relays information to the reader about octopuses. Adds in additional pieces of information about them.

Good book for an marine unit.

[Heather · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was a little sad. The female giant octopus dies once her babies hatch. And although she lays about 60,000 eggs only 2 or 3 make it to adulthood.

We did learn a lot and the pictures were very well done. It was especially nice to see the illustrations of the eggs and how they develop.

There are two kinds of text. One is the 'gentle' story with a nice, soft feel to it. The other, in a different font, gives a bit more scientific information. It worked well in some parts, but in others it was just repeated what the other had said.

The very first page of the book contains more scientific information and I think it should be read after you read the story.

Overall, they really enjoyed it and I felt it added to our understanding of octopuses. The boys weren't terribly saddened, but a really sensitive child might be.

[Cassie Houck · Rating 4 out of 5]

This story is about the life cycle of a giant octopus. It begins with female octopus trying to find a place to lay her eggs, she faces many challenges along her way. It also has interesting facts about the life of an octopus in wavy text that is separate from the actual story of the octopus in the normal print.

The illustrations are beautiful, it did not sugar coat anything. The octopus dies and only 3 or 4 of the 60,000 babies survive, so its a little sad. It is very informative, which I liked.

I would have this in my classroom because when I was little I was very interested in sea creatures. I know that a lot of children are in to that stuff as well. I would use this book in my library for self discovery, or even in a lesson before we go to the aquarium or something.

[Morgan]

This book is a nonfiction book that follows the life of an Octopus. It talks about how it eats, how it swims like a rocket ship, and how it gets scared of wolf eels. The pictures of this book were the best part to me. It captures the enormousness of the creature perfectly.

I really like this book. I'm a fan of Octopus so I liked seeing them explained so beautiful. This would be a great book to share with student when learning about sea life or how to help the environment (and what you hurt when you don't help it).

[Jessica Sommers · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is about a Giant Octopus that is looking for a place to lay her eggs! Throughout the book it describes the physical characteristics of this creature and the different behaviors it has. This book also emphasizes the importance of where the octopus lays its eggs so they are safe from other predators.

My favorite aspect of this book were the pictures that went a long with the text.

This book would be perfect for a unit about under the sea creatures. It would be also good to show that even other creatures have to use protective strategies to protect their family.

[Louise · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting book about giant octopi, an animal that we generally don't give much thought to at all. I learnt a lot about octopus behaviour, which is really quite astounding. I didn't know that they could regenerate their tentacles if they become damaged for instance. My 8 year old enjoyed reading the book with me, however he found the accompanying CD a bit too young for him (three of the four tracks consist of the book being read aloud in different formats, the fourth is an octopus song).

[Kennedy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a cute, eductational book about giant Octopi. This book mainly covers what happens to a female Octopus when she is about to lay her eggs, but it also cover basic information like, changing colors or squeezing into small areas. This book has wonderful illustration and is written in a style that was almost rhyming. This would be a good book to use with younger children when covering sea life or something like that.

[Summer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Library book.

P absolutely loves this one, and no doubt we will soon be purchasing it for her as well. Its target audience is a lot older than toddler age, but she loves reference books, so thus we have many.

I was a bit put off by the constant reference to the impending death of the mother octopus, but I understand these things are needed in childrens' literature sometimes.

[Angie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this to my niece & nephews (7, 5, & 2). This is a beautifully illustrated story of a mama octopus's life cycle. the writing is very nice - fun to read out loud. It is rather sad though, as it is realistic.

[Shelbi Bishop · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book gives all kinds of information about octopus. I didn't know many things about them.

This book would be great for students to write a summary about it. They could talk about things they did and didn't know before reading the book.

[Kellie O. · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a lovely book! Short non-fiction audiobooks/read-alouds are hard to come by, so I was eager to try this one out on my preschool class. The kids loved it! They asked for it often. The library had several like this in a series, I can't wait to go back and check out the others.

[Maddie Taylor · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book goes through the life cycle of a GIANT octopus! I learned so many things I never knew! I think many students would not find this boring but informative and fun! I would love to have this is my future classroom!

[Deanna Sutter · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a good child's book about the Giant Octopus.

[Cheryl Meibos · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's pretty amazing how the octupus moves in the water, how they can squish their bodies and
how many eggs they lay (and how many get to be grown-up octopuses). The 2nd graders love this
book.