The Peeple’s Choice Awards

Each spring, the Hancock Town Library is filled with Literary Peep Dioramas – scenes from books made of everyone’s favorite marshmallow Easter treat. This year two fine artists in town, Kim and Scott Cunningham, made this tribute to Sy’s The Good, Good Pig. If you’re in town, come vote for The Peeple’s Choice Awards.

Sy took the listeners of the Techstination podcast on a deep dive to explore The Secrets of the Octopus. Listen here.

Win a new book. OctoNation is thrilled to offer OctoFans a chance to win a copy of the newest National Geographic book, Secrets of the Octopus by Sy Montgomery and the founder of OctoNation, Warren K. Carlyle IV. Enter your name and email address to register.

Sy talks with Psychology Today about her new book, Secrets of the Octopus:

• Based on the latest scientific research and wonderful stories, ‘Secrets of the Octopus’ is a must-read.
• One of the most astonishing fields of inquiry centers on octopuses’ social lives; they’re not loners.
• Almost everything we once thought we knew about octopuses is wrong.
• And Sy says: “With everything I write, I aim to help readers join me in falling in love anew with this life and with the creatures in it. For once we do, we deepen our commitment to treat all our neighbors—human and non, vertebrate and invertebrate—with renewed respect and compassion. Who better than octopuses to show us the way?”
• Read her interview here.

Vote for Sy & Matt. The Book of Turtles has been nominated for an award from professional humane educators — and you, the hardshell faithful, can vote for it here, about halfway down the ballot. While there, cast your vote for the Most Accomplished Animal Ambassador. We confess that Henry the Ferret caught our eye. Henry looks like a worthy weasel.

The Book of Turtles is on the Long List for the Green Earth Award. Check out all the terrific titles on the list here.

Telling Secrets. Octonation – The Largest Octopus Fan Club founder Warren Carlyle and Sy talk about Sy’s new book, Secrets of The Octopus – which has octo-profiles by Warren. They also discuss its companion, three-part National Geographic TV film. Listen to the fabulous Zoo Logic podcast.

A meeting of the shells. After Sy and Matt brought their turtle show to the Boston Malacological Club, Sy was awarded honorary memberships.

Turtles rule. Matt Patterson and Sy are thrilled to share the news that The Book of Turtles will be honored by a Riverby Award – named after famed naturalist and essayist John Burroughs’ Hudson River estate. The award honors “exceptional non-fiction books for young readers.” Several of Sy’s books have won this award before, including The Magnificent Migration, Amazon Adventure, Great White Shark Scientist, and The Snake Scientist.

The award will be presented at the Yale Club in New York on April 1.

In praise of the unhurried life. Nature Conservancy Magazine likes Of Time and Turtles: “Although the book is a skillful mix of science, philosophy and turtle lore, it’s about more than the hundreds of reptiles saved by two dedicated women and the team they built. By the book’s end, the motto of Turtle Rescue League founders Natashia and Alexxia – “Never give up on a turtle” – takes on a broader meaning that feels a lot like a testimony to the power of human compassion and the difference it can make in the lives of animals, no matter how unhurried.”

Sy and Warren Carlyle is founder of OctoNation, the world’s largest octopus fan club, recruited more Octo fans on Chicago’s WGN-TV’s Morning News show. Watch here.