The Great Escape

Meet Inky an octopus who is a Houdini of a guy……octopus. Unknown to me, Inky’s Great Escape: The Incredible (and Mostly True) Story of an Octopus Escape is (very loosely) based on a real octopus who escaped from tank at the aquarium.  In April 2016, The New York Times published a story about the real Inky who escaped from the National Aquarium of New Zealand through a drainpipe and eventually found its way to the sea.

Inky is tired of his exciting ocean life, where he has escapee from everything possible. He decides it is time to retire to the aquarium. Here is tells his new friend, Blotchy about all his adventures while they play cards, make faces as visitors and lives a quiet life. One day Blotchy, tired of the boats, dares Inky to escape. With patience Inky hatches the perfect plan. And one day, the opportunity arrives. Will Inky make one last escape?

Casey Lyall creates a happy, quirky story with a couple of lovely characters. We all know a Blotchy and we all know an Inky. In fact, we might be one or the other. Some, a combination of both. The fun part of the story is Blotchy does not want to escape and Inky is okay with that. He never makes fun of Blotchy or try to convince him to change. And Blotchy, while he is a slightly stereotypical “grumpy old man” he is a lovable old man that never really comes off as being mean or looking down at Inky…even if he is not truly convinced that Inky can escape.

Sebastia Serra creates extremely colorful, lighthearted and fun illustrations that follow Inky’s adventures perfectly. There is another book of the same name by Dr. Gene Crumbley (I am guessing self published) that I am now curious about as well.