Go, Octopus, Go!

The orange paper octopus sits in a sunny tide pool among pebbles, starfish and seaweed, ready to zoom off.

Fold 1, ages 4 to 6FOLD1AGES 4–6Fold 1 · First Reader
Ages 4–6

Go, Octopus, Go!

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Words to know

octopus
eight arms
hearts
They beat.
taste
by touch
coconut
a big nut
The orange paper octopus sits on a coral reef and waves one arm hello.The orange paper octopus sits on a coral reef and waves one arm hello.The orange paper octopus sits on a coral reef and waves one arm hello.

An octopus!

The orange paper octopus stretches its eight arms out in all directions, touching shells and pebbles.The orange paper octopus stretches its eight arms out in all directions, touching shells and pebbles.The orange paper octopus stretches its eight arms out in all directions, touching shells and pebbles.

One, two, three, four! Five, six, seven, eight!

The orange paper octopus glows from inside, showing two small hearts, one bigger heart and thin blue lines of blood.The orange paper octopus glows from inside, showing two small hearts, one bigger heart and thin blue lines of blood.The orange paper octopus glows from inside, showing two small hearts, one bigger heart and thin blue lines of blood.

An octopus has three hearts.

A close-up of an orange paper octopus arm, its round suckers pressed against a seashell.A close-up of an orange paper octopus arm, its round suckers pressed against a seashell.A close-up of an orange paper octopus arm, its round suckers pressed against a seashell.

An octopus can taste what it pats.

The orange paper octopus squeezes its soft body through a narrow gap between two rocks.The orange paper octopus squeezes its soft body through a narrow gap between two rocks.The orange paper octopus squeezes its soft body through a narrow gap between two rocks.

An octopus can fit in a gap.

The paper octopus is changing colour: one half is still orange and the other half is speckled grey-brown like the rocks.The paper octopus is changing colour: one half is still orange and the other half is speckled grey-brown like the rocks.The paper octopus is changing colour: one half is still orange and the other half is speckled grey-brown like the rocks.

Lots of octopuses can get red.

Coral rubble with an octopus hidden in it, its bumpy, speckled skin matching the stones around it.Coral rubble with an octopus hidden in it, its bumpy, speckled skin matching the stones around it.Coral rubble with an octopus hidden in it, its bumpy, speckled skin matching the stones around it.

Can you see it?

The orange paper octopus shoots away, leaving a dark cloud of ink in front of a curious little fish.The orange paper octopus shoots away, leaving a dark cloud of ink in front of a curious little fish.The orange paper octopus shoots away, leaving a dark cloud of ink in front of a curious little fish.

Lots of octopuses can jet off!

The orange paper octopus zooms through the water, arms trailing behind and bubbles puffing out.The orange paper octopus zooms through the water, arms trailing behind and bubbles puffing out.The orange paper octopus zooms through the water, arms trailing behind and bubbles puffing out.

Go, octopus, go!

The orange paper octopus peeks out of its rocky den beside a small pile of empty shells.The orange paper octopus peeks out of its rocky den beside a small pile of empty shells.The orange paper octopus peeks out of its rocky den beside a small pile of empty shells.

It has a den.

The orange paper octopus spreads its arms like an umbrella over a small crab on the sand.The orange paper octopus spreads its arms like an umbrella over a small crab on the sand.The orange paper octopus spreads its arms like an umbrella over a small crab on the sand.

It can nab a red one!

A brown octopus with fine dark lines walks across the sand carrying two halves of a coconut shell.A brown octopus with fine dark lines walks across the sand carrying two halves of a coconut shell.A brown octopus with fine dark lines walks across the sand carrying two halves of a coconut shell.

Some octopuses can sit in a coconut.

A mother octopus in her den blows water over long strings of tiny white eggs.A mother octopus in her den blows water over long strings of tiny white eggs.A mother octopus in her den blows water over long strings of tiny white eggs.

The mom sits and sits.

Hundreds of tiny see-through baby octopuses drift through sunlit water full of plankton.Hundreds of tiny see-through baby octopuses drift through sunlit water full of plankton.Hundreds of tiny see-through baby octopuses drift through sunlit water full of plankton.

Pop, pop, pop!

A huge reddish, wrinkly giant Pacific octopus spreads its arms in a kelp forest beside a much smaller diver.A huge reddish, wrinkly giant Pacific octopus spreads its arms in a kelp forest beside a much smaller diver.A huge reddish, wrinkly giant Pacific octopus spreads its arms in a kelp forest beside a much smaller diver.

It is big!

A tiny octopus, about the size of a fingernail, sits in a little shell next to a pebble.A tiny octopus, about the size of a fingernail, sits in a little shell next to a pebble.A tiny octopus, about the size of a fingernail, sits in a little shell next to a pebble.

It is not big!

A cut-away view of the ocean from a sunny reef down into the dark deep sea, with octopuses at different depths.A cut-away view of the ocean from a sunny reef down into the dark deep sea, with octopuses at different depths.A cut-away view of the ocean from a sunny reef down into the dark deep sea, with octopuses at different depths.

Some are in the sun. Some are in the dim.

The orange paper octopus waves goodbye from the door of its den in golden evening light.The orange paper octopus waves goodbye from the door of its den in golden evening light.The orange paper octopus waves goodbye from the door of its den in golden evening light.

Go, octopus, go!

The end

Go, Octopus, Go!

See the printed pages
Front cover of Hello, Octopus!, Fold 2The next fold upHello, Octopus!Fold 2 · Read Together · Ages 6–8 All six books

For grown-ups

This is a book for your child to read alone, maybe for the first time. Almost every word is short and spelled the way it sounds, and a few are common words your child learns by heart (the, is, has, you, what). Four longer words, octopus, hearts, taste and coconut, are on the Words to know page, each with a picture: read that page together first. Then let your child read to you, pointing to each word. When a word stops them, sound it out together, letter by letter; only for those four words, turn back to page 3 and its picture. Read it again tomorrow, and the day after: a book they know well is how a new reader gets quick. If your child wants more, Fold 2, Hello, Octopus!, tells the same facts as a picture book to read together.

The facts behind the pictures

An octopus has eight arms and no tentacles; squid and cuttlefish add two tentacles to their eight arms.

An octopus has three hearts: two pump blood through the gills, and the third pumps it around the body.

An octopus tastes with the suckers on its arms: they can taste what they touch.

An octopus can squeeze through small gaps: with no bones and no shell, it fits through any gap larger than its beak.

Most octopuses can change the color and pattern of their skin (red, pale, dark, blotchy or striped) to hide or to signal.

By matching the rubble around it, an octopus can blend in and hide.

Most octopuses can squirt a cloud of dark ink to hide as they jet off; deep-sea finned octopuses and a few others have little or none.

Most octopuses can jet: they fill the body with water and force it out through a tube, the siphon. Mostly they crawl.

Most octopuses that live on the seabed have a den: a crack in the rocks, a hole in the sand or an empty shell.

The red one is a crab. Octopuses hunt other animals, especially crabs, clams and fish; diets vary by kind and place.

Here “some octopuses” means one kind: the veined octopus of Indonesia carries coconut-shell halves and fits them together as a shelter.

A mother octopus stays with her eggs, guarding them, cleaning them and blowing fresh water over them, usually without eating.

Octopuses hatch from eggs that their mothers lay; “pop, pop, pop” is the babies hatching.

The big one is a giant Pacific octopus, the largest known: adults average about 45 to 65 pounds (20 to 30 kg) and span about 7 to 13 feet (2 to 4 m), yet each hatches from an egg the size of a grain of rice.

The smallest known octopuses are only a few centimeters long when fully grown and can weigh less than a gram.

Octopuses live in every ocean, from sunny tropical reefs to icy polar seas and from tide pools to the dim deep sea.

A child's very first book to read alone. A few short words on each page, the same pattern again and again, and every hard word shown in a picture before the story starts.

Ages
4–6
Trim
6 × 9 in
Pages
24
Words
109
Reading grade
0.7
See the printed pages

From the octopus facts episode of our video series. All six books tell this fact too.