Octopus Stew

What do you do when an octopus captures Grandma? Put on your superhero cape and rescue her! This clever picture book tells two stories in one, from award-winning Afro-Latino artist Eric Velasquez.

The octopus Grandma is cooking has grown to titanic proportions. Tenga cuidado! Ramsey shouts. Be careful! But it's too late. The octopus traps Grandma!

Ramsey uses both art and intellect to free his beloved abuela.

Then the story takes a surprising twist. And it can be read two ways. Open the fold-out pages to find Ramsey telling a story to his family. Keep the pages folded, and Ramsey's octopus adventure is real.

This beautifully illustrated picture book, drawn from the author's childhood memories, celebrates creativity, heroism, family, grandmothers, grandsons, Puerto Rican food, Latinx culture and more.

With an author's note and the Velasquez family recipe for Octopus Stew!

A Bank Street Best Book of the Year

Author: Eric Velasquez
Publisher: Holiday House
Published: 09/17/2019
Pages: 40
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 0.97lbs
Size: 11.00h x 8.80w x 0.40d
ISBN: 9780823437542
Audience: Ages 4-8

Accelerated Reader:
Reading Level: 2.8
Point Value: 0.5
Interest Level: Lower Grade
Quiz #/Name: 508484 / Octopus Stew


Review Citation(s):
Kirkus Reviews 07/15/2019
Publishers Weekly 07/15/2019
School Library Journal 09/01/2019 pg. 109
Booklist 09/01/2019 pg. 114
Horn Book Magazine 01/01/2020 pg. 83
Hornbook Guide to Children 01/01/2020 - Outstanding, Noteworthy In Style

About the Author
Eric Velasquez' awards include the John Steptoe / Coretta Scott King Award for new talent, a Pura Belpré Award, an NAACP Image Award, and a Carter G. Woodson Award.

For Holiday House, he both wrote and illustrated Looking for Bongo, and he illustrated Ol' Clip-Clop: A Ghost Story by Patricia C. McKissack (Anne Izard Storyteller's Choice Award Winner, Georgia Children's Book Award, Bank Street Best Children's Book of the Year--Outstanding Merit) and New Shoes by Susan Lynn Meyer (Jane Addams Peace Association Children's Book Award, Bank Street Best Children's Book of the Year, New York State Reading Association Charlotte Award).

The son of Afro-Puerto Rican parents who encouraged music and storytelling, Eric grew up in Spanish Harlem, New York. As a child, he loved superheroes, comics and drawing, much like the boy in Octopus Stew.

He teaches illustration at the Fashion Institute of Technology and lives in New York.