18 February 2013 OCTOPUS ALONE by Divya Srinivasan, Viking, May 2013, 40p., ISBN: 978-0-670-78515-5

"When this old world starts getting me down

And people are just too much for me to face

I'll climb way up to the top of the stairs

And all my cares just drift right into space"

-- Carole King and Gerry Goffin, "Up On The Roof" (1962)

"He (a ship captain) told me about octopuses -- how they go 'round the sea bed and pick up stones and shiny objects and build gardens. I thought, 'How fabulous!' because at the time I just wanted to be under the sea, too. I wanted to get out of it for a while."

-- Ringo Starr, quoted in beatlesinterviews.org, recalling the inspiration for writing "Octopus's Garden," the last Beatles song on which he sang lead vocals

"The seahorses found Octopus fascinating, but she was shy and did not want to be noticed. She tried to shoo them away. But they though she was playing, so they played too.

"'I give up,' Octopus sighed. Squeezing out of her cave, she crawled into the garden. She changed colors just like that, and disappeared. The seahorses swam away wondering where she'd gone."

We all have that need at times to just get away from it all. Octopus is no exception. She leaves the reef that is teeming with life, using her abilities to camouflage herself and to squirt ink when threatened, in order to seek the quiet time she craves.

"When she finally stopped, she was far beyond the reef. Here the water was gloriously empty...no one watching, no one to hide from. Whale song rose faintly from the deep. Octopus remembered the dancing seahorses.

"She wiggled! She twirled! She even did a somersault! She was so happy to be alone."

On the endpapers of OCTOPUS ALONE, there is an undersea scene containing a couple of dozen labeled marine creatures -- creatures that we will notice amidst the story's illustrations as Octopus heads off seeking her solitude.

After a nap and some quality quiet time, Octopus is ready to get back into the thick of it. She returns to the reef and the shenanigans of the seahorses.

This tale about the need for quiet time and recharging is such an important lesson for all of us. That it is accompanied by some basic lessons in octopus physiology and these lovely undersea illustrations is icing on the cake (or whatever the marine equivalent might be).

Richie Partington, MLIS
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