children's nonfiction (5th grade? and up - for young marine biologists and those who are comfortable with the mention of animals mating)
A fascinating look at the life of an octopus researcher in Moorea of French Polynesia, from the award winning Scientists in the Field series. ( )

This book tells the true story of researchers looking for octopuses to research some of their more fascinating qualities, such as their ability to camouflage, their many adaptations that allow them to hunt and eat, and the female's ability to store sperm for months and then use it when the time comes to lay eggs. The team hoped to find various applications, from octopus psychology to human medical advancements to conjectures about extraterrestrial life. The vivid pictures support the information well, providing context for the expedition and findings. Although a picture book, it reads like a textbook. It could be very engaging for students interested in ocean life because it fuses story with information, but I could also see it being too textbook-like for most students' taste. This book would help prepare students to read textbooks by introducing them to text features, such as picture captions. ( )

This book takes the reader deep into researching and examining octopus. It takes the reader through the different parts, looks at their habitats, and other habits of the creature. This would be a good book to use with older grades, because the pages are information heavy. It is a really good book for students to use for research or just enjoyment as it supplies facts about octopus and would be an educational read.

I liked how this was a chapter book and followed the story of the scientists and their discoveries about the octopus. The pictures and illustrations were beautiful and went perfectly with the text. This would be a great book for young readers who show an interest in marine life/science. I really enjoyed how the information was presented and learned some cool facts!

This book is a great example of a high-interest non-fiction book. It talks about not only the intelligence of an octopus, but it also talks the reader through how the scientists went about collecting their data. This book is chalked full of beautiful photos and complex text so an early reader could get something from it from the pictures whereas a more advanced reader could have fun reading the story along with it. I would use this book to teach about animals and compare and contrast an octopus' brain/intelligence with ours. ( )