The Octopus Escapes Read online

  The Octopus Escapes

  Maile Meloy

  pictures by Felicita Sala

  putnam

  G. P. Putnam’s Sons

  The octopus was happy in his cave.

  He watched the world go by outside.

  Bright fish darted by, some in schools and some alone.

  He could see starfish from his door, and shiny mussels.

  Sometimes waves came rolling in.

  Little shivery ones,

  or big tumbling ones.

  The waves left sand on his floor, so he swept it out.

  Sometimes crabs came in. He liked to chase them for dinner.

  He wrestled with it and pulled it free.

  It was empty, so he climbed inside to hide.

  One day, something new came into his cave.

  But that was a mistake.

  Then he was in a glass house that wasn’t a cave.

  The glass house was in a big room where a human peered in at him.

  Behind her, there were sad gray sharks and slow sea starsin glass houses of their own.

  The human said, “He’s shy,”and gave him tests that looked like toys.

  Sometimes the tests were hard, and he felt smart.

  But sometimes they were easy.

  The human taught him to take pictures of the people who came to see him.

  People love to be in pictures.

  They made funny faces.

  But every day was the same in the glass house.

  The food came at the same time.

  It always tasted the same, and he didn’t have to chase it.

  There were no waves. No little shivery ones. No big tumbling ones.

  He missed the different fish swimming by his cave.

  And the starfish and shiny mussels.

  He missed warm spots in cold water, and cold spots in warm.

  He hadn’t known how nice that was until it was gone.

  He tried to tell the human he was bored.

  He tried to show her how small the tank was.

  But she only laughed and peeled his tentacles off her arms—

  one

  by one

  by one

  by one

  by one

  by one

  by one

  by one.

  That was when he knew he had to go.

  He waited for night to come.

  The same old dinner plopped into the same still water.

  The sleepy sharks cruised back and forth, and the slow sea stars dozed.

  The lights went out.

  And it was time.

  He took one more picture so they wouldn’t worry.

  Then he slid down the glass and across the floor.

  He made himself flat and squeezed beneath the door.

  Outside, the pier was noisy and bright.

  But he smelled the salt of the ocean close by.

  He reached way,

  way,

  way down,

  until he felt the spray—

  and dropped!

  He changed colors three times in the water, just because he could.

  It was a long swim back to his cave.

  The ocean was warm and cold and shivery and tumbling.

  He had to dive away from boats.

  And he got very hungry.

  But he thought of the same food plopping into the tank.

  And the same unchanging water.

  And the four glass walls he couldn’t swim through.

  And he kept on, until he saw starfish and mussels he knew.

  At last, he found his cave.

  He chased a crab and brought it home for dinner.

  But there was sand on his floor.

  And there were fish sleeping in his bed.

  He swept them out—OUT!

  He made his cave just right.

  No one gave him tests or wanted a picture taken.

  He was home, and he could do what he wanted.

  And so he settled in to watch the world swim by.

  G. P. Putnam’s Sons

  An imprint of Penguin Random House LLC, New York

  Text copyright © 2021 by Maile Meloy

  Illustrations copyright © 2021 by Felicita Sala

  Penguin supports copyright. Copyright fuels creativity, encourages diverse voices, promotes free speech, and creates a vibrant culture. Thank you for buying an authorized edition of this book and for complying with copyright laws by not reproducing, scanning, or distributing any part of it in any form without permission. You are supporting writers and allowing Penguin to continue to publish books for every reader.

  G. P. Putnam’s Sons is a registered trademark of Penguin Random House LLC.

  Visit us online at penguinrandomhouse.com

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Names: Meloy, Maile, author. | Sala, Felicita, illustrator.

  Title: The octopus escapes / Maile Meloy; illustrated by Felicita Sala.

  Description: New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, [2021] | Summary: “An octopus is taken from his undersea home to live in an aquarium, but he soon tires of captive life”—Provided by publisher.

  Identifiers: LCCN 2020034122 | ISBN 9781984812698 (hardcover) | ISBN 9781984812711 (kindle edition) | ISBN 9781984812704 (epub) | Subjects: CYAC: Octopuses—Fiction. | Aquariums—Fiction.

  Classification: LCC PZ7.M516354 Oc 2021 | DDC [E]—dc23

  LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020034122

  eISBN 9781984812711

  Design by Eileen Savage.

  The art was done in gouache, watercolor, and pastels on paper.

  For Lucile, Michael, and Caitlin —M.M.

  For all the good people working for the conservation of our oceans —F.S.

 

 

  Maile Meloy, The Octopus Escapes

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