The Incredible Octopus

I love octopuses, and I love books, also a book about octopuses is 👌. This book was so adorable and informative. I loved the pictures and little bubbles of information. The tone was casual and fun. It felt like listening to a friend read. I also loved how the author included which octopus was her favorite (shhh, don’t tell the others!).

My 5-year-old (and I!) learned a lot and had fun reading it. I think this will be a beautiful physical book and would be a great start for the budding marine biologist in all of us.

Stunning pictures and fascinating facts, this book is a must for curious kids.

I started reading a few pages of this book to my kids and thy asked me to keep going until we finished it.

The octopus is an incredible creature and we didn't realise how little we knew about them until opening this book.

Full of fascinating facts and stories, this book is a must for your home library.

My 3 kids loved this book. Ages 3, 7, and 11. The pictures kept them captivated, while the facts my oldest devoured. Already recommended this book to our local library!!

The Incredible Octopus has gorgeous photos and illustrations! There is a lot of great information about octopuses and other cephalopods. The writing is clear and simple enough for an older child to understand, and interesting to adults as well. I highly recommend this for a children's department of a library, or for anyone interested in learning about octopuses.

This is a beautiful and informative children's science book about octopuses. I loved the photographs and the graphics. I know quite a bit about the octopus but I learned new information from this! The interviews with scientists was especially interesting, and the ways we humans can help protect the octopus was a great way to end the book. I highly recommend this to bookstores, libraries and parents who want to enrich children's understanding of the natural world!

Thanks so much to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book!

Thank you to Storey Publishing and Net Galley for a digital ARC of this title in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own. Lately, I've been reading about, and seeing octopuses. I loved this book because it could be shared with my great niece, who is 4, but also was interesting for me. I really enjoyed this, and I'm glad that I had the opportunity to read it ahead of most. If you have a child in your life (or just love octopuses...and they are fascinating!) I highly recommend this book.

What a treasure trove of octopus information! I learned so much about a wide variety of octopuses that my mind is still reeling a bit. The photographs and illustrations are magnificent. This reviewer is an adult who’s recently seen the movie My Octopus Teacher based on the nonfiction book and read the fiction book Remarkably Bright Creatures. Combined with this chock-full-of-octopus-information children’s book, I’m newly impressed with this incredible undersea creature.

This a great read for all ages. I'd like to say that I know a fair bit about octopuses but this actually taught me new things I didn't know. This book has a good mix of learning about different species of octopuses, facts and research. It is all broken down to easily read and digest. Really great book and well researched

The Incredible Octopus is a glorious feast of facts, fun, and photos about octopuses. Yes, it is octopuses rather than octopi - so hard to know how to pluralize those s-ending words like cactus or bus! Erin Spencer's lovely book informs the reader about where octopuses live (everywhere!), the number of species (300!!), their anatomy (nine brains!!!), and significantly more. The information is presented in attractive snippets surrounding photographs or illustrations. Some of the basics are repeated, which is nice because the book is devised so that it can be delved into at any page one happens to open. The book is aimed at grades 2-5, but I would claim it is for ages 1-100. Octopuses are such fantastical creatures, alien-looking and smart enough to open jars, do mazes, and use tools. They are friendly and love to play. What's not to love? This gorgeous book would make a perfect gift for anyone.
Thank you to NetGalley and Storey Publishing for this ARC.

This is the sort of non-fiction that children absolutely love. The layout allows the child to dip in and out and the pictures are very eye catching. Children love nature and especially learning interesting facts about animals. I would use this for book talk and for an English unit on non-chronological reports. Amazing.

Wow this is such an awesome book! My almost 7 year old son was so interested in the information in the book. The photos were great! We learned a lot. It's a great book for early elementary schools. Especially if the kids have a research topic or project they have to do, this book would be absolutely perfect for that. My kids love books like this. Thank you Netgalley for sharing this title with us in exchange for our honest opinion.

This is a absolutely Brilliant Book for Children & Adults alike who can learn some amazing facts about these incredible creatures who inhabit all of our Oceans & Seas ,I Highly recommend it. #NetGalley, #GoodReads, #Amazon.co.uk, #FB, #Instagram, #<img src="https://www.netgalley.com/badge/8a5b541512e66ae64954bdaab137035a5b2a89d2" width="80" height="80" alt="200 Book Reviews" title="200 Book Reviews"/>, #<img src="https://www.netgalley.com/badge/ef856e6ce35e6d2d729539aa1808a5fb4326a415" width="80" height="80" alt="Reviews Published" title="Reviews Published"/>, #<img src="https://www.netgalley.com/badge/aa60c7e77cc330186f26ea1f647542df8af8326a" width="80" height="80" alt="Professional Reader" title="Professional Reader"/>.

I really liked this, I love octopuses and it was very interesting to learn more about them. I learned a lot of new things.

Thank you NetGalley for my ARC of this book. I was so excited to read this book, it’s full of great information and fascinating factoids! It’s an excellent book for all ages, and easy to follow along. Colorful and intriguing, and well written.

Fascinating book we'll definitely buy! The layout of each page is very eye-catching and accessible. Kids can read bite-sized facts about a variety of octopi. Beautiful pictures!

I love non-fiction books like this that are appropriate for older elementary students. The graphics are abundant and unique (octopus brains, internal structures). The images are colorful. There is a lot of text but it's displayed in an interesting way, and the photographs are the focus.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC. I will purchase this series for my library.

Stunning! I love this book about octopuses and it's reader-friendly for children 7 and up. I find it to be very educational and fun.🐙🦑🌊

Marine biology has always been fascinating, there is so much to learn. After watching a captivating documentary about an octopus in South Africa, I'm more interested in this complex creature than ever before.

How cool that octopus blood is blue and that it has three hearts and nine brains. It uses its suckers to move, taste, play, and solve puzzles. Most amazing for me is how fast they change their colors to camouflage from predators. You will learn about different kinds of octopuses and where they live through colorful illustrations and amazing photographs. The author also touches on the ecosystem and how we can help protect them. A wonderful and informative read!!

Thank you Storey Publishing and Netgalley for this DRC.

HUGE thanks to both Storey Publishing, LLC and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review an early copy of The Incredible Octopus. The expected publication date is April 16, 2024.

I know that this book is being recommended for children, but boy did this adult learn things she had previously been unaware of!! First, however, I want to mention that the photography is breathtaking! Now to touch on a few of the things I didn't previously know:

1) Octopuses have one large brain between their eyes and a small brain in each of their legs.
2) Some octopuses carry around shells to hide in when a predator is near.
3) The giant Pacific octopus, which can grow up to 30 feet long and weigh up to 600 pounds!!

There is SO MUCH MORE I could share but, honestly, you need to see the gorgeous photos as you read the facts. I highly recommend The Incredible Octopus to kids AND adults!

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this eARC.

I LOVED this book! I was raised in a small (graduating class of 13 students) rural school, one of the things that I love about Netgalley is that their books help me on so much I missed out on in school. So, although this is recommended for 7-14 year olds, this adult for this book to be a fascinating (literally jaw-dropping) fount of Octopus information. I had read a bestselling fictional book about an octopus this past year - and I was SO SHOCKED after I read this book to discover that fascinating things from that book were MUCH more plausible than I imagined!

A DELIGHTFUL BOOK with WONDERFUL PICTURES, INFORMATION AND FACTS, this "children's book" could have a place on any adult's coffee table as an almost GUARANTEED conversation starter.

This book brings me right back to my childhood. I would go to the library and pick up books about any topic that interested me and experience the joy of learning. This book is a great deep dive into octopuses (yes, pun intended). The text is simple to understand while staying informative and fun. This book has personality and I'm certain that it will connect with a young audience. To support the text, the book is filled with many different pictures, showing all the variety that can be found within octopuses.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review!

Super fun book for any kid who wants to dive into the world of octopuses. I definitely recommend this one for any science/nature loving kid.

Thanks to Netgalley, the publishers & Erin Spencer for the ARC! My kids (3, 3, 6, 8) loved this book. The pictures were so beautiful and they were so engaged that they didn't even fight! It was astounding for me to see how many random facts my kids knew about octopuses, and how little I knew. We will definitely be buying this when it comes out!!

I never thought much about octopuses before but this book shows how complex and fascinating they can be!

The Incredible Octopus by Erin Spencer

Definitely a must-read book for young readers (even suitable for adults too!)

A mixture of photos and beautiful illustration, it shows about details of octopus in a wide perspective. Basically if you have no idea of what octopus is, this is your book to start with.

This is a highly informative book, yet from an attractive and easy angle for young readers to understand. The book is full of surprises, well-researched and fun to read.

Many thanks to NetGalley, the publisher and the author for my copy!

Pub date: Apr 16, 2024

"The Incredible Octopus: Meet the 8 Armed Wonder of the Sea" by Erin Spencer is a children's book that is great for any age! This is an information packed book about a fascinating subject! I loved it! Great real pictures, too!

Here is a bit of what I recall from this book about octopuses:
✅️ Blue blood
✅️ 8 arms (not tentacles as these have suckers all along)
✅️ 9 brains
✅️ 3 hearts
✅️ Mantle is the bulbous middle which holds all organs
✅️ most use a siphon to move
✅️ Cephalopods
✅️ Males die after mating
✅️ Females die as eggs hatch
✅️ Biggest brain to body ratio of all invertebretes.
✅️ Very intelligent, can play
✅️ Can change shape, color, texture, and can hide in small spaces
✅️ All have venom, but only the Blue Ringed Octopus is toxic to humans

Book sections include
All About Octopuses, The Octopus Life, Meet the Octopuses (most venomous, largest, smallest, coldest, etc.)
and People and Octopuses (research and science).

I highly recommend this book for school libraries and anyone interested in octopuses!

Thank you to Netgalley, Storey Publishing, and author Erin Spencer for providing this ARC e-book so I could give you my honest review.

Between the undersea photography and the interesting facts this was a huge hit in our family! I read through this first and knew right away that my seven-year-old daughter was going to love it too, and she did. She was so excited to learn how these gorgeous live, what they eat, and which were dangerous. She was very happy to hear that the venomous blue-ringed octopus doesn’t live anywhere near us!

This one comes out on April 16 and I highly recommend it for any person who loved Octopuses!

Thank you Storey Publishing for the arc via Netgalley!

The Incredible Octopus is incredible! Great illustrations and information. I'd recommend it for any elementary or even middle school library to learn more about sea life or octopuses. If you have a sea lover this would be a great gift, particularly something to go with it especially aquarium tickets. I also think this would be a great addition to a public library or a sea life display.

4.7 ⭐️
Great for kids AND adults! Highly recommend in schools and education settings.

🧐 After reading Remarkably Bright Creatures, an adult fiction novel by Shelby Van Pelt, years of hearing how smart they are, and having the joy of holding a small one in Costa Rica, I was excited to learn more about these fascinating creatures.

🐙 And boy was I ever impressed! I learned a ton from the basics of eating, protection and habitat in the beginning of the book, to the amazing playful, smart and colorful sides in the middle, and even the myths, expeditions and scientific studies at the end. Way more than I was expecting, all with fascinating facts and amazing colorful images.

📕 This is what I call “worth its weight” meaning worth owning a print copy versus digital.

Thanks to NetGalley, Storey Publishing 💖, and Erin Spencer for providing me with a complimentary ARC to review!

Packed full of great information about octupus. The layout of the pages are great and delivers the information in a nice way that is easy to digest. I would definitly recommend this, if your child have already shown interest for ocean life or octupus in particular.

Chock full of interesting facts, reminds me why octopuses are one of my favourite animals!

Loved this. So much detail and lots I didn’t already know.

Broken down nicely into information about an octopus’s physiology, behaviours and habits and live, examples of the species and interactions with humans, it answers almost any question you might want to ask.

The colours are great - ocean colours showing the beauty of the octopuses (not octopi), all their features broken down and explained, lovely to look at.

I tried reading this with my 7 year old but it’s more a book for readers to enjoy themselves. It’s not really a book to listen to. I however thoroughly enjoyed it! And learned a great deal.

I now think the octopus is even more incredible than I did before. There’s a good amount of readers for readers on the science behind their adaptations - suckers and colour-changing, with definitions provided. There’s also a lot about people who work with them and how we can help keep them healthy. A ‘going deeper’ section gives more resources for further study.

One for older readers than a typical first guide to animals books, maybe ages 7-12.

With thanks to Netgalley for providing a sample reading copy.

Octopuses like jellyfish are the coolest sea creatures next to the whales so I'll always stop and read a book about the incredible octopus and this one for a younger audience adds amazing photography of octopuses, cool details and text features, some diagrams of their organs to be able to better understand them and their habitats.

Featuring specific cephalopods in addition, it captures the wonder of the deep sea creatures and even shares some of the folklore. There's also a few scientist interviews in the back which I appreciate to inspire the next generation of animal scientists too.

It was lovely to go into their world for a bit with this book. They are eight-armed wonders of the sea!

First, I want to share my eight-year-old’s review for this fun book!!

“I loved it! Can we get it? I liked the pictures and how I got to learn more about octopuses. It’s crazy how big the Giant Pacific Octopus can grow and weigh more than a gorilla!”

He really enjoyed this book and immediately after we finished said he wants to get a physical copy—that’s my boy!! 😄

The Incredible Octopus was jam-packed!! I learned SO much about octopuses and my son, who already knew much of what was shared, learned a few new things as well. The illustrations and photographs were bright and detailed. I loved how the book was divided into sections ranging from anatomy of octopuses to how they live and play to different species to how octopuses influence myths and technology to how we can help conservation efforts. I also really appreciated the section of interviews with researchers and experts and found what they had to say fascinating. 

Erin Spencer is a marine ecologist and a National Geographic Explorer. Her knowledge of octopuses was clearly evident and her ability to write for kids was fantastic. There was quite a lot of text on some pages, but my son paid attention the whole time. And while my six-year-old became distracted a few times, the pictures throughout always drew her back in and she kept saying some of the octopuses looked like Hank from “Finding Dory” which was so cute.

If you know a young reader who is interested in ocean life and wants to learn more about the incredible octopus, I highly recommend this book!!

(I received an eARC from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.)

In a Nutshell: An informative encyclopaedia about everything connected to the magnificent octopus. Amazing facts, stunning photographs. Great for little and not-so-little animal lovers.

Octopuses are fascinating – no two ways about it. So it isn’t surprising that an entire 80-page book can be written on just octopuses.
There are various species of octopuses – almost 300 – and also related cephalopods such as squid, cuttlefish, and nautiluses. The book highlights interesting facts about all of these, with the maximum focus obviously being on the titular animal.

The information is classified into neat sections, covering topics such as anatomy, survival mechanisms, special octopus species, and even general facts such as octopuses in human lore. There are also some fun tidbits about octopuses and the games they love to play. (I was a bit sad to see that Paul the Octopus wasn’t mentioned; surely he has earned a place in the ‘Famous Octopuses’ list with his accurate guesstimates during the international football matches!) There is a glossary at the end and also a detailed list of resources kids can use to learn more about octopuses.

I especially loved the three interviews at the end of the book. These are conversations with professionals who work with or interact with octopuses as a part of their job. Not a feature I have seen so far in animal books – such an enlightening addition! Also appreciate that two of these three professionals were women scientists – Yay for FemSTEM!

The page layout is like that of an encyclopaedia, with 3-5 paras of text on many pages, but with a major chunk of the page space being dedicated to photographs and their accompanying captions, which contain interesting facts about the animal in the pic. While the language is fairly easy to kids who are keen on animals, the formatting and page structure makes it suitable to readers aged 8+.

The trivia in the book is mindboggling! In fact, the book begins with an intriguing ‘Did you Know?’ section that will directly spur the reader to learn more about astounding octopuses. I am anyway fond of animal trivia, so some of the information was already known to me. But I didn’t expect to learn so many new facts from this book. (I am not sharing any of these with you as I want you to read the book!)

I love that actual photos have been used to illustrate the book. Animal books are always so much better with real photos as artificial graphics don’t convey the beauty of the animals effectively. This makes the physical copy of the book a must-have.

All in all, a wonderful option for little animal lovers. This would make for an informative and entertaining resource in classroom libraries as well. Let’s not forget that it would also be a great way for adult animal lovers to know more about the incredible octopus.

4.5 stars, rounding up for the marvellous info and photos.

My thanks to Storey Publishing and NetGalley for the DRC of “The Incredible Octopus”. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.

"The Incredible Octopus" is an educational deep dive into the fascinating world of octopuses. This book is captivating and full of incredible art and information for young readers. The art and photography are a highlight of the book, with the art often helping show diagrams of what is being outlined.

This book serves as an amazing educational resource, covering topics ranging from octopus anatomy to some of the basics of invertebrate zoology. The book also delves into various aspects of octopus biology, behavior and different species from around the world. I absolutely loved the creative approach the author took to explaining complex concepts, such as chromatophores, in a way that young readers can understand and appreciate.

“The Incredible Octopus” ends with an emphasis on conservation, not only raising awareness about the challenges facing octopuses and the ocean but also empowering readers to take action. By ending with a message of conservation and practical steps readers can take to help, the book instills a sense of responsibility and stewardship for the natural world. I am so grateful the author concluded the book this way! The author also provides additional resources and suggestions for readers to keep learning and exploring the world of octopuses and marine life.