Reviews

Inky's Amazing Escape: How a Very Smart Octopus Found His Way Home by Amy Schimler-Safford, Sy Montgomery

sunflowerjess's review against another edition

adventurous informative lighthearted fast-paced

• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

Octopuses are awesome and super cool. Half a star taken off for the completely unnecessary example of Christopher Columbus as an inspiring explorer. Other than that, this book was really good. 

t2p's review against another edition

4.0

New VRC: A fun nonfiction picture book about an octopus's escape from a New Zealand aquarium. I can see kids really enjoying this one, especially those who like animal facts.

mandarchy's review against another edition

4.0

Nominated for the Washington Children's Choice Picture Book Award, I just got done reading this to the whole school. The youngest students had a coloring book page with a writing section and a prompt "Octopuses can". The older students went to World Book Online to explore articles related to Octopuses.

It was interesting for our students to compare Inky to the octopus we know - the Giant Pacific Octopus which nests in our backyard. We used the map in Huggie and Stick to see where New Zealand is. When the library is finished it would be nice to have a world map that we could label with the book we read.

olivias's review against another edition

3.0

This was an interesting book, although not really a story per se. I found it pretty readable and entertaining, though, and enjoyed the blend of fiction and non-fiction. I'd definitely recommend this book, and might display it (octopus display!), but wouldn't use it for a storytime. Definitely better suited for older kids. Includes some interesting real-life details at the end. Although it details Inky's escape, I wouldn't call this entirely vegan, as it still supports the idea that captivity is a good place for animals. Overall, pretty good. 7-8+

cweichel's review against another edition

5.0

This book engaged students from grades 1 to 5 this week. I love how it combines narrative with all kinds of information about octopi. With the older groups we had interesting conversations about how the author would have had to learn a lot about octopi to imagine what Inky's life was like before he was captured. Since reading this book and realizing just how smart these animals are, I'm not sure I will be able to eat octopus again.

amdame1's review against another edition

4.0

This is the true story of an octopus named Inky. He was injured, caught off the coast of New Zealand by a lobsterman, and brought to an aquarium in Wellington. He stayed there for 2 years while he explored, grew, and healed. However, one night, his cage was left slightly open and he escaped from the cage, down a drain, and back out into the Pacific!

The students in my self-contained SPED classroom enjoyed this story - one of them even gave it 10 stars on a 5 point scale. =P We also looked up a YouTube video from 2016 to show them live reports of his escape.

Sy Montgomery is an excellent non-fiction science writer. Illustrations help capture the story with accuracy and color. There are also fun octopus facts at the end.

mldavisreads's review

5.0

Childrens narrative nonfiction. This illustrated book tells the story of Inky the octopus, who was injured, caught by a fisherman, donated to the National Aquarium in New Zealand, and managed to escape the aquarium to head back out to the ocean. While this sounds like a version of Finding Nemo or Finding Dory, it was a real event that happened in New Zealand. Inky the octopus is a very curious explorer, and this was a fun read. The illustrations take up the whole page, there is no white space. This gives Inky room to ooze about the pages. My favorite spread showed him with LEGO blocks and a Mr. Potato Head toy.