Sy meets Sy the Octopus

Sy meets Sy the Octopus. The New England Aquarium has named one of its new Giant Pacific Octopus after a certain author and frequent visitor. “It’s a huge, huge honor.” says Sy (the author not the octopus).

As the Union Leader reported: Montgomery recently met Sy, who was captured in the wild just a few weeks before she came to New England Aquarium.

“She is perfect,” she said. “She is amazing.”

Montgomery offered the octopus some fish on a “grabber,” but the animal grabbed her arm instead. “She pulled and pulled me and almost pulled me in.” she said.

Then Sy the octopus “hosed” her with saltwater from her tank, a move that can either be hostile or playful, according to Montgomery’s book. “And after that, we just got down to petting each other,” she said. “She was sucking on me, letting me pet her head, and changing colors.”

Montgomery loved it.

She also loves the notion that folks will be singing Sy’s praises when they visit the aquarium’s new exhibit, “Tentacles.” “Thousands of people will be saying, ‘Sy is so beautiful,’ ‘Sy is so flexible,’ ‘Sy is so strong,” she said, laughing. “And so colorful!”

Go Pig Go! The paperback of The Good Good Pig is now in its 15th printing.

Arms Across America III. The Soul of an Octopus is on these Regional Independent Bestseller Lists for the week of May 15:

#5 – New England Independent Booksellers

#4 – Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association

#7 – Midwest Independent Booksellers Association

The paperback is now in its fifth printing.

Kochałam go jak wielką, grubą świnię. Bo był świnią. That may be Polish for: “I loved him like a big, fat pig. Because he was a pig.” At least that’s what Google Translate says is the headline on the extensive interview of Sy by Paulina Reiter, editor in chief of the leading Polish women’s magazine Wysokie Obcasy. From what we’ve read through the fog of Google Translate, it is a good, thoughtful interview. At right is the cover of the Polish edition of Sy’s Journey of the Pink Dolphins.

Arms Across America II. The new paperback edition of The Soul of an Octopus returns to six regional best seller lists for early May:

#5 — New England Independent Booksellers Association

#11 — Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance

#5 — Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association

#9 — Northern California Independent Booksellers Association

#7 — New Atlantic Independent Booksellers Association

#10 — Midwest Independent Booksellers Association

Quest for the Tree Kangaroo is a grade 4-5 Exemplary Informational Text for the Common Core Standards.

Sy serves as affiliate faculty (nonfiction) for Southern New Hampshire University’s Master of Fine Arts in Fiction and Nonfiction program. Recently SNHU News interviewed Sy. Among the questions: What challenges you most as a writer and how do you overcome it? Her answer: “Too often I am intimidated by my own material. I think: I’m not good enough for this. I’ll screw it up! … But at these times, I don’t pretend to believe in myself. Instead, I believe in my teachers-the animals and people I met along the way. I trust in those teachers when I can’t trust in myself. I can’t believe in myself all the time (who can?) but I can always count on the animals, and they give me the strength and courage to go on through anything.”