Inky’s Great Escape: The Incredible (and Mostly True) Story of an Octopus Escape

By Casey Lyall. Illustrated by Sebastià Serra.

Few stories of animal escapades rival octopus escapes for mind-boggling fun. Lyall embellishes wildly on the story of Inky, who broke out of a New Zealand aquarium in 2016. This Inky is a raconteur and a patient opportunist who escapes on a dare from his tankmate, Blotchy. Inky’s physical feats are, of course, incredible: He makes himself “flat as a piece of seaweed,” then coils his body into a rope, slipping down the drain and out to the ocean. With Technicolor flair, Serra’s madcap cartoony illustrations rev up the story even more.

32 pp. Sterling. $16.95. (Picture book; ages 4 to 8)