8th to the 12th of October, International Cephalopod Awareness Days

Every year from the 8th to the 12th of October, International Cephalopod Awareness Days come around to teach the world about cephalopods. This event is all about celebrating and sharing how fascinating and incredible they are!

October 8   – Octopus Day, for all the eight-armed species

October 9   – Nautilus Night, a time for all the lesser-known extant cephalopods

October 10 – Squid Day/Cuttlefish Day, or Squittleday, covering the tentacular species

October 11 – Kraken Day, for all the fantastical cephalopods of myth, movies, literature and legend

October 12 – Fossil Day (to coincide with National Fossil Day), for all the incredible suckers that have gone extinct but left an impression with us.

I have written about this week before here and about Octopus Day here, but since then new books have been added to the library, so here are some to look for on each of these days.

Octopus:

Nautilus:

Squid:

Kraken:

Fossils:

8th October World Octopus Day

Octopuses are one of the earth’s great survivors. Indeed, despite their relatively short lifespan, octopus fossils date back more than 300 million years, meaning that they pre-date even dinosaurs. 

Perhaps one of the reasons that these unique creatures have survived so long under the sea is because they are also believed to be highly intelligent. With around 500 million neurons located in their brains and arms, they are able to bypass their instincts, learn lessons and solve problems in a way that not very many other sea life creatures are able to. 

Children are fascinated by octopuses and any display of octopus books in the library is always popular, especially any that tell 'real-life' tales of octopus and their feats. Inky, a common New Zealand octopus who escaped from his tank at an aquarium would probably be the most popular and luckily he is well written about.

See:

• Inky the Octopus by Erin Guendelsberger and David Leonard

• Inky's Great Escape by Casey Lyell and Sebastian Serra

• Inky's Amazing Escape by Sy Montgomery and Amy Schiller-Safford

 

or there's these generic escape stories

• Octopus Escapes  by Nathaniel Lachenmeyer and Frank Dormer

• The Octopus Escapes by Maile Meloy and Felicita Sala

• Octopus Escapes Again! by Laurie Ellen Angus

These beautifully illustrated picture books will allow your students to learn about these amazing creatures:

Some new stories:

And a serial:

I have written about Cephalopod Awareness Days before in 2016 here which goes for the whole week from the 8th to 12th with a different focus each day. More books to look for here.