Forget Shark Week — what we really need is Octopus Week, the New York Post declares after reading The Soul of an Octopus. And they back up their case with videos of octopuses performing their usual amazing feats.

The Soul of an Octopus moves closer to number 8. It’s at number nine on July’s New York Times bestsellers list of books about animals.

Fourth Printing. Simon & Schuster has gone back for a fourth printing of The Soul of an Octopus.

In great company, along with Jacques Cousteau and Rachael Carson: Off the Shelf picks 11 Books to Explore the Mysteries of the Ocean Deep.

Alton Brown is a chef, host of the popular show Good Eats on the Food Network, and is busy touring the country with a live show. The website Lifehacker asked Brown all sorts of questions about his kitchen, the tools and apps he uses and:

Q: What are you currently reading?

A: Gravity’s Rainbow, James Bond novels, and Sy Montgomery’s The Soul of an Octopus.

Octopuses Down Under, across the Atlantic and in the Hub (Boston). Sy talks to ABC Late Night Live in Australia to Sean Moncrieff, Ireland’s favorite radio show host, and to Modern Notion Daily. Sy also appears on WGBH’s television show, Greater Boston, at the 16:29 mark.

Booksellers love The Soul of The Octopus. That’s what three of Sy’s favorite independent booksellers told the New Hampshire weekly, The Hippo:

• Michael Herrman, owner of Gibson’s Bookstore: “A fascinating journey into the minds of creatures that are separated from us by half a billion years of evolution.”
• Holly and Willard Williams, owners of The Toadstool Bookshop: “Successfully foists her enthusiasm on all readers, even those who might not have initially shared her love.”

The latest Octo radio. While in Vancouver Sy spoke with CBC Radio One on The Early Edition about what she’s learned from octopuses: “They’ve taught me that there’s many different ways of knowing and thinking and feeling, all vivid and all important… These animals’ brains are so different from ours, their lives are so different from ours, their bodies are so different from ours… they taste with all of their skin, including their eyelids… They can know you and know you are different from this other person … and that to me expands the moral universe quite a bit.”

The story behind the book. In Sunday’s Boston Globe, Sy talks about why she wanted to write about Octopuses: “This strong sense of personality attracted her to the animals, said Montgomery, who co-writes a Globe column, Tamed and Untamed. ‘We split from our common ancestor with the octopus half a billion years ago. And yet — you can make friends with an octopus.’

“Is friendship the right word, really, or is that anthropomorphizing a set of animal reactions and responses? Montgomery rejects the question. ‘Anthropomorphism is such an interesting concept,’ she said. ‘It means projecting human thoughts and emotions onto an animal. Which implies that thoughts and feelings belong to humans alone. Of course, if you believe in evolution, or if you believe in the Bible, that’s not so. Both evolution and the Bible tell us that we’re part of a family.’ Read the rest of the short interview.

br style=”clear:both”>

Underwater photographer Keith Ellenbogen has signed copies of our book for kids, The Octopus Scientists, at New England Aquarium’s great gift shop. If you’re in the area, stop by and pick up a copy — and don’t forget to say hello to Elvira the octopus (who’s on eggs).

New York Times Best Seller. The Soul of an Octopus is on the Times’ Animals Best Sellers list for June at number 10 — but surely number 8 would make more sense.

The New York Times Sunday Book Review writes about the Octopus book surfacing on the Best Seller list — “Hugs and Kisses: Among the usual paeans to dogs and other cuddly creatures on the monthly animals best-seller list, there’s also a more surprising tribute: “The Soul of an Octopus,” by the naturalist Sy Montgomery, makes its debut at No. 10. In a recent interview with CBC News, Montgomery conceded octopuses don’t have the best reputation. “It has something to do with being an invertebrate, and being covered with slime . . . and those suckers,” she said. “But the suckers are great. It’s kind of like being hugged and kissed at the same time. You go home and you’ve got hickeys on your arms to explain to your husband. But you’ve been having this meaningful interaction with an octopus.”

Report from the road. Sy is on her book tour. She reports: “Souled” out! My talk on octopuses at Denver Museum of Nature and Science was SRO with many smart questions (including an excellent one from 4-year-old Henry about octopus ink)–what a great night!! Now about to cuddle with Cheryl Miller’s corgi Louie and Aussie Roddy before bed—early to rise to get to Columbus Ohio tomorrow. (Seattle was also SRO.)

And from Ohio, Sy reports: We sold out of books in Columbus! Great fun to be with dear friend Becky Rose and other Columbus Zoo staff and volunteers, as well as reunite with beloved host of the popular “All Sides” radio show at WOSU radio, Ann Fisher. Listen to the interview here.

Mail from an 11-year-old student who wants to be a Marine Biologist. She’ll attend Boston Latin in the fall. She heard Sy on the radio and wrote to thank her: “The way you spoke today inspired me to learn about octopi and the ocean, and I wanted to thank you.”

Bestseller. The Soul of an Octopus is on the bestseller list of the New England Independent Booksellers Association (NEIBA). It’s at number 13 on the hardcover nonfiction list. Now onward, we hope, to the number 8 spot. Where else for an octopus book?

Third Printing. Simon & Schuster has gone back for a third printing of The Soul of an Octopus.

More Octo Radio. Listen to Sy’s interview on NHPR’s Word of Mouth.

Look for a review in The Week, June 12, 2015.

Beach Blanket Cephalopod. The Soul of an Octopus makes the list on NHPR’s Annual Summer Books Show.

This little piggy went to Gibson’s Bookstore to hear Sy read from her new book. Tazzy is her name and she lives on Miles Smith Farm. “Tazzy is a fan of Sy’s book, The Good Good Pig,” says her human chaperone.

What do Jackson Pollock, fruit flies and the Levy Distribution have to do with octopuses and human behavior? That’s what National Geographic asked Sy. Read the interview here.

Happiness. “What really makes humans happy, I believe, is our connection with the real, living, breathing, sweet green world, a world full of so many different kinds of creatures, a world endlessly mysterious and exciting and beautiful,” Sy says in a short interview with Thrive Wire.

“If you don’t love all creatures great and small after reading Sy Montgomery you have no heart.” – Kathye Fetsko Petrie, author, editor, and we’re proud to say, a friend from long ago.

Christopher Hogwood gets a great reception in Poland! Here’s just one of the enthusiastic reviews of Dobra Swinka, Dobra:

The Alien at Your Doorstep. Just off Seattle’s coastline lives something more alien, fascinating and emotionally appealing than any science-fiction space character. It has unearthly superpowers: It can taste with its skin; it can resist a pull 1,000 times its own weight; it can change color and shape, squirt ink and inject venom; it can grow to more than 100 pounds, yet pour its baggy, boneless body through an opening the size of an orange. Read Sy’s story in The Seattle Times.

Handle with Care. The June 2015 Reader’s Digest has an excerpt from Sy’s Birdology about how Brenda Sherburn raises baby hummingbirds. You can see Chris Buzelli’s art here.

Just published — May 15. In bookstores now: The Soul of an Octopus –A Surprising Exploration into the Wonder of Consciousness. Atria Books | 272 pages | ISBN 9781451697711

The Soul of an Octopus is one of GoodReads Best Books of the Month for May 2015. “What an incredible story. It shows how interconnected all living things are on our planet and creates a reverence for all who reside here. Remarkable.”

Octopus on the radio. Our world is really the remnants of a previous one, says one Hawaiian story, and the only survivor of that previous world is the octopus. How did it survive? It slipped between a crack in the two worlds. Listen to Sy talk about The Soul of an Octopus on PRI’s The World. And on WGBH’s talk show Boston Public Radio.

Two legs good, eight legs best: five reasons to love octopuses. As if you needed any reasons for Octo Love. Read this article in The Guardian.

Dobra, Swinka, Dobra. Christopher Hogwood has arrived in Poland, far from his New Hampshire pig pen. Chris’ Polish publisher is beaming with pride:

Międzynarodowy bestseller!

Kiedy Sy przygarnęła cherlawego prosiaka, nie miała pojęcia, że to stworzenie – początkowo nie większe od kota – nie tylko przeżyje i urośnie do ogromnych rozmiarów, ale też podaruje jej to, czego zawsze szukała: rodzinę, dom i przyjaciół.

Christopher Hogwood, bo tak go nazwała, stał się ulubieńcem okolicy. Sąsiedzi przyprowadzali go, gdy uciekał, córki sąsiadki urządzały mu ciepłe kąpiele, a powiększające się grono znajomych zwoziło przepyszne resztki ze swoich stołów.

Inteligencja i sława czarno-białej świni rosły wraz z jej wagą – Chris trafił nawet do radia i telewizji.

Chasing Cheetahs: The Race to Save Africa’s Fastest Cats has made the 2015 Green Earth Book Award Short List. The winning books will be chosen from this short list and will be announced on Earth Day, April 22, 2015.

“The Nature Generation created the Green Earth Book Award to promote books that inspire children to grow a deeper appreciation, respect, and responsibility for their natural environment. This is an annual award for books that best raise awareness of the beauty of our natural world and the responsibility we have to protect it.”

Kiss the Cheetah! Chasing Cheetahs is one of Kiss the Book’s Top 50 Books for Secondary School readers for 2015. The list will be presented at the Utah school librarians’ annual conference. And the cheetahs in great company: Check out the entire list of wonderful books for young readers here.

That pig is on the move again. Christopher Hogwood has returned to the New York Times bestseller list. On February 22, look for The Good, Good Pig on the E-Book Nonfiction list at number 12, and on the Combined Nonfiction list at number 19.

On the radio. Sy answers a myriad of questions about animals – cats that comfort the dying, rent-a-pets, dogs left at home, a pit of 18,000 snakes, her Border Collie Sally, and her flock of hens. Listen to Boston Public Radio on WGBH at the 2:00:20 mark.

And more radio. On Something Wild, Sy recalls how she first heard the “call of the wild” as a toddler, (before age 2) at the Frankfurt Zoo in Germany. “Somehow I got into the exhibit with the hippo,” she recalled. “Hippos bite you in half; they’re very dangerous animals.” Small as she was, especially next to the hippo, she didn’t get nervous. More importantly she didn’t start running around as little children can do when they panic. And she has a simple explanation for why she didn’t. “I’ve always just felt much more at home with animals than people.” Listen to this short NHPR show here.

Chasing Cheetahs is an ALA Notable Book for 2015. Each year the American Library Association selects the “best of the best in children’s books” and we are happy to say that this year that includes Chasing Cheetahs.

The Orbis Pictus Award for Outstanding Children’s Nonfiction has chosen Chasing Cheetahs as a Recommended Book for 2015. “The NCTE Orbis Pictus Award was established in 1989 for promoting and recognizing excellence in the writing of nonfiction for children. The name Orbis Pictus, commemorates the work of Johannes Amos Comenius, Orbis Pictus—The World in Pictures (1657), considered to be the first book actually planned for children.”

Sy is writing a new weekly column about animals for The Boston Globe. She shares the writing of Tamed/Untamed with her good friend Elizabeth Marshall Thomas, author of The Hidden Life of Dogs. They will alternate every week. On the last week of the month, they’ll try to answer your questions about animals. Contact them: syandlizletters@gmail.com Sy’s first column — Psychological effects of pets are profound – can be read here.

---

Sy started off the year with a Skype visit with eleven 4th grade classes at PS 14 in Queens. The session was organized by teacher and journalist Markos Papadatos–who wore his tarantula tie in honor of the occasion.

A highlight of our virtual visit was a letter written by one student to the French Government pleading for protection for the tarantulas, who are frequently killed to be encased in Lucite as souvenirs. Tarantulas are important because their venom can yield important drugs. But also, noted the student, if these beautiful spiders are killed, “the rain forest will feel lonely and it will not be exciting.” Here is the letter:

Dear French Government,

Please stop killing tarantulas. You need to protect them from being killed. People should not kill them for souvenirs because they are so important to us.

One reason why you should protect tarantulas is they save our lives because their venom stop us from having heart attacks. This can help lots of people.

Also they make an important part of the rainforest. If they are killed the rain forest will feel lonely and it will not be exciting.

Another reason why you should not kill tarantulas is because people like to study them. If people study them they will continue to make amazing discoveries.

After reading the Tarantula Scientist, this is why you need to make laws to protect the tarantulas from being killed.

Sincerely,

Dayabara, Class 4-314

---

An international honor for Temple Grandin: How the Girl Who Loved Cows Embraced Autism and Changed the World. Temple Grandin has been selected for the IBBY Documentation Centre for Young People with Disabilities. The International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY) is a non-profit organization based in Switzerland which represents a network of people from all over the world who are dedicated to bringing books and children together.

Chasing Cheetahs is a finalist for a 2014 Cybils Awards. The Children’s and Young Adult Bloggers’ Awards “aims to recognize the children’s and young adult authors and illustrators whose books combine the highest literary merit and popular appeal.” The nomination for Cheetahs says: “This is a perfect blend of inspiration and science, encouraging kids to dig deeper and think about a popular topic. A great book for strong middle-grade readers to enjoy on their own or to read together as a family or class.”

Sy was on Here & Now to talk about sharks and our fear of them. About her first dive she says: “Although my heart was pounding when I went down in the cage — when I actually saw the sharks, instead of feeling at all frightened I was engulfed with this sense of tranquility.” Listen to the short interview here.

Sy has more to say about sharks and our fears in a story she wrote for the online journal Aeon: “Danger girl —What I learned about fear, sex, desire and dread from the peculiar pleasures of diving with great white sharks.” Read it here.

Dobra świnka, dobra’! That’s Good Good Pig in Polish. In 2015 The Good Good Pig will be published in Poland. Christopher Hogwood has already ventured overseas in Dutch, British, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, and Portuguese editions. He always enjoyed (unauthorized) tours around the neighborhood. Now that pig is an international traveler.

Cheetahs take Chicago. The Chicago Public Library has chosen Chasing Cheetahs as one of the Best Informational Books for Older Readers of 2014.

Chasing Cheetahs has been chosen by Smart Books for Smart Kids as one of the Best Science Books for Children in 2014:

“Chasing Cheetahs educates readers in a most fascinating way about the importance of the survival of cheetahs as a species; as predators they play an important role in the circle of life, controlling populations of antelope. The photographs in Chasing Cheetahs by Nic Bishop are outstanding, offering us a glorious glimpse into Namibia’s cheetah habitat; it’s the next best thing to being there.

“The lessons to be learned about the way cheetahs live and are being threatened are thought provoking. If this one species of wild animals is at risk at the hand of humans then we must ask what other animals do we adversely affect? What are the consequences? How can we change this? Reading about Dr. Laurie Marker and her journey to save cheetahs is priceless. What children will take away from this book is that one person with great passion (and a good education) can accomplish goals that – while at first may seem impossible – are not only attainable, but can make a huge and lasting difference in this world.” You can read more here.

Sy is immensely enjoying the big piles of letters and drawings from students at West Clay Elementary in Carmel, Indiana, with whom she recently visited, and Metawee Community School in West Pawlett, Vt., with whom she scyped last week. In our scype session, we focused on coral reef animals. This drawing, by the talented Harlow Rosemary Quail, depicts the walking or flamboyant cuttlefish (Metasepia pfefferi), an Indo-Pacific relative of the octopus, displaying a threatening pattern of bright colors.

Chasing Cheetahs has been selected as one of the Outstanding Science Trade Books for Students K-12 for 2015. This list is a cooperative project of the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) and the Children’s Book Council.

Five wonderful elementary schools in Carmel Indiana rolled out the red carpet for Sy last week, where she shared stories and images of her work, signed and personalized hundreds of books, and answered the kids’ thoughtful and perceptive questions. Thanks to the fantastic school librarians, the kids were extremely well-prepared; they had been reading Sy’s work, watching videos, learning about animals and creating artwork for weeks in advance of her arrival.

Thank you to Cherry Tree, College Wood, Mohawk Trails, Smoky Row and West Clay Elementary Schools!

Here’s some photos and artwork from that unforgettable visit:

Sy’s new friend, Lauren, started a wildlife journal like Sy’s after having lunch with her!

Sy’s forthcoming book for young people, The Octopus Scientists, photographed by Keith Ellenbogen, has been chosen as a Junior Library Guild Selection. JLG is a collection development and review service that schools and libraries have relied upon for 85 years, suggesting upcoming books with particular promise. The Octopus Scientists is the true story of an expedition to study wild Pacific Day Octopuses in french Polynesia with a team of octopus experts–including an octopus psychologist! The book will be published in May by Houghton Mifflin.

The end of September finds Sy in a cage underwater with Great White Sharks. This summer she’s worked off Cape Cod from a boat with shark researcher Greg Skomal and his team. But to get really up close and personal, she’s getting in the water with these beautiful animals, traveling with photographer Keith Ellenbogen to the chrystal-clear waters off Guadeloupe, Mexico. She hopes to get views like these!

The Regret of Rats, the Grief of Wolves: Animals Do Have Emotions, But What Should We Call Them? Sy talks with her friend and fellow “animalist” Vicki Croke for The Wild Life which runs on WBUR’s Here and Now. Read the interview here. Or listen here.

Sy’s short essay, “Tarantula Heaven,” is part of the fifth installment in the Guys Read Library of Great Reading. The True Stories anthology features “ten stories that are 100% amazing, 100% adventurous, 100% unbelievable—and 100% true. A star-studded group of award-winning nonfiction authors and journalists provides something for every reader, all aligned with the Common Core State Standards.”

With her friends, Massachusetts shark biologist Greg Skomal and photographer Keith Ellenbogen, Sy will be on the Cape in early July chasing great white sharks for her next book, The Great White Shark Scientist. Sy’s planning to stay on the boat this time, but come September, she’ll be diving with them — in a cage — off Guadeloupe. (Photo from clker.com, public domain clip art.)

Congratulations to Pati Medici. For her long-running tapir conservation project, Pati has been chosen as one of 20 new TED Fellows for 2014. The Tapir Scientist is all about Pati’s work in Brazil protect the threatened lowland tapir – the largest terrestrial mammal in South America.

The Tapir Scientist has been selected by Bank Street College of Education as one of The Best Children’s Books of the Year, 2014.

Kakapo Rescue: Saving the World’s Strangest Parrot, has been nominated for a 2015 Grand Canyon Reader Award.

The Grand Canyon Reader Award is chosen by children. Approximately 45,000 Arizona students vote each year. Kakpo Rescue, along with nine other nonfiction books, will be read by teachers, librarians, and students all over Arizona and voted upon by April 1, 2015.