Octopus Socktopus

by Nick Sharratt

Pull the tabs and lift the flaps - who will be your favourite octopus? Will it be the Cuckoo Clocktopus, the Scary Shocktopus or maybe even the Party Frocktopus? There's an octopus for everyone in this fantastically colourful sequel to the hugely popular "Elephant Wellyphant", shortlisted for the Roald Dahl Funny Prize. 'Simple yet wonderful' - "Waterstone's Books Quaterly".

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Animals, Storytime

24 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2008

About the author

Nick Sharratt is the author-illustrator of numerous books for children, including The Foggy, Foggy Forest and Dinosaurs’ Day Out.
He grew up in Suffolk, Nottinghamshire and Manchester, with his four siblings. He attended Manchester Polytechnic (now called Manchester Metropolitan University) where he completed an art foundation course. He was trained in graphic design at St. Martin's School of Art and took his later inspiration from the pop and graphic art of the 1960s, which he experienced as a child.
He lives in Brighton, England.

Reviews

[Kerry Leonard · Rating 5 out of 5]

this book made me cry

[Polly Batchelor · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read with my nephews 3 and 6 who were both saying certain words better than I was. They both really enjoy the book

[Andrew Davies · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nick Sharratt is perhaps best known for illustrating the hugely popular stories of Jacqueline Wilson, but he has also written an extensive catalogue of children's picture books himself, including this entertaining but surprisingly inventive play on rhyme, phonics, spelling and creativity. Initially, it might seem an octopus is a creature possessing a phonically challenging name for inventive language or word play, but Sharratt adapts and rhymes with 'oc', 'pus', 'octo' and other sound combinations in a manner that young readers at EYFS and even KS1 will find very entertaining and engaging. Coupled with Sharratt's almost luminously striking colour selection and Nick Denchfield's kinaesthetic paper engineering providing very hands-on learning opportunities for children with SEN, you could read this picture book through 5 times and on each occasion discover something new that you missed on the previous read. Children could be inspired to choose their own animal, and design their own creations built around its name; they could gain huge enjoyment and reinforce learning from the book by acting it out as a group physical performance; they could even link to sea creatures in science or counting up to 8, or counting in 8s, in maths. Nick Sharratt also published 'Elephant Wellyphant' on very similar lines to 'Octopus' in the same year, 2008, providing further opportunities for language exploration for the classroom: would could the children invent for themselves using 'crocodile', 'kangaroo', 'guinea pig' or 'meerkat'?

[Ruth · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book uses fun play on words and would be good to use in a key stage one classroom.

[Kimia Domire · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ok as far as baby books go, this is beyond excellent.

I grew up with Jacqueline Wilson books so I already knew to expect fantastic illustration from Nick Sharratt.

Whats genius is he really let's his talent for illustration shine. Every picture is a gag, and every word is a pun. They're fun to say, which is just brilliant for making a baby laugh.

Plus there's flappy bits to reveal fun secret surprises in the pictures too.

Lots of fun for baby and adult. Love love love

[Jenna Mills · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great fun

[Sarah Newman · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have read/had this book read to me >20 times in the last week and I still grin. Quality.

[Book Magpie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great picture book for preschoolers. My 16 month old loves the bright colours and pages she can interact with.

[jacky · Rating 4 out of 5]

June 2011: Very fun book. Sadly, the copy the librarian read today is a little worse for wear. Some of the moving parts were no longer there or working. But, the kids got a kick out of the play on words (and so did I). Fun and colorful artwork with different kinds of pop-ups and flaps.

Jan 2013: Brought this home for Natalie for letter O week and its been her favorite all week. She can recite it now.

[Giles Knight · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant Funny!!

I strolled into my local book store looking for inspiration for a teaching pleasant and was howling in the kids area reading this gem.... My Mom actually purchased this me for my birthday!!

Octopus Socktopus is a genuinely brilliant kids book of nonesense, personal favourite is Helicoptopus but you will have your own when you read it.

Moving parts on this pop up book are clever and well recommended.

[Portable · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of my favourite books for rhyming, and for its glorious sense of humour. Who knew there could be so many rhymes for octopus? A fabulous book for read-aloud, with brilliant, colourful illustrations. Which one is your favourite: Choctopus? Cuckoo clocktopus? Goldilocktopus?
Children clamour for re-reads of this.

[Deborah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hugely popular with the three year old. Bright, interactive, funny.