Every story starts with nothing, so ... why not an octopus who wants to fly in a spaceship? A delightfully meta picture book that will set imaginations soaring. From Benji Davies, the illustrator of The Storm Whale and Grandad's Island, comes a metafictive story about ... how to build a story! First, a story needs a character. So why not a ukulele-playing octopus? And since this is a story, the octopus has to want something - maybe it dreams of travelling to faraway galaxies in a purple spaceship. But every character needs an obstacle to overcome, and when the octopus sets out to build its own spaceship out of glue, umbrellas, glitter and waffles ... well, he doesn't have much luck. Could there be another character that could help? Debut author Maggie Tokuda-Hall sets up a funny, smart and warm-hearted story all about storytelling, then hands the baton to imaginative readers, who will be more than prepared to take it away.

 

This book has been graded for interest at 3-5 years.

There are 32 pages in this book. This is a picture book. A picture book uses pictures and text to tell the story. The number of words varies from zero ('wordless') to around 1k over 32 pages. Picture books are typically aimed at young readers (age 3-6) but can also be aimed at older children (7+). This book was published 2017 by Walker Books Ltd .

Benji Davies is an animation director and illustrator of children's books. He lives in London with his wife, Nina. Maggie Tokuda-Hall has an MFA in writing from the University of San Francisco and a tendency to spill things. As a longtime children's bookseller she has read her fair share of stories, and she is always hungry for more. Her favourite animal is an octopus, or else an elephant. She lives in San Francisco, USA. Find her online at www. prettyokmaggie. com and on Twitter as @emteehall. Benji Davies is an animation director and award-winning illustrator, whose picture books include the Bizzy Bear series, The Storm Whale and Grandad's Island, which was shortlisted for the Association of Illustrator's prestigious World Illustration Awards. He lives in London with his wife, Nina. Find him online at www. benjidavies. com, and on Twitter and Instagram as @Benji_Davies.