Allison Estes

Playing pirate with her friends at the beach one day, Izzy happens upon an octopus who has washed ashore, and wanting a pet, decides to take him home. Oscar isn't your usual animal companion, and Izzy soon discovers that he isn't cuddle-able, can't be walked, and squirts ink at inconvenient times. On the other hand, he's a genius at camouflage, and when Izzy falls into a pool trying to rescue another child, his swimming skills prove very useful in effecting a rescue. In the end, Oscar finds his calling as the local lifeguard, and the two friends manage to stay together...

A fanciful take on the common childhood theme of learning to accept one's pets for what they are, rather than trying to make them into something else - Vikki VanSickle's If I Had a Gryphon would be another example of this - Izzy & Oscar offers an engaging tale from authors Allison Estes and Dan Stark and cute illustrations from artist Tracy Dockray. I've noticed an uptick in recent picture-books about octopodes - as per the afterword here, there are actually three ways to indicate the plural of octopus, and I've decided to adopt 'octopode' - which is all to the good, as far as I'm concerned, as I find these intelligent sea creatures really quite fascinating. Recommended to young octopus lovers, and to anyone looking for children's stories about getting a pet, however unusual.… (mer)