Explore! Rescue! Read!: The Beautiful Octonauts Books The Series is Based On

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Parents of Octonauts obsessives, I see you there: you who know the difference between the Gup A and the Gup E, who have a weirdly extensive knowledge of obscure sea creatures, and who can’t get “Creature Report” out of your head for love or money. I see you, from here in my living room, where I can’t look in any direction without seeing orange and blue.

Octonauts mania has hit my 3 year old hard, and truthfully, as far as children’s television goes, I don’t really have any complaints about her choice. The characters are all smart and individual. None of them have annoying voices. There’s no violence. The technology/engineering jobs are held by the ladies. Every episode teaches about a new sea animal. Their mission is “Explore, Rescue, Protect.” What can I possibly object to?

Octonauts is one of the most popular shows on children’s television, but did you know that it’s based on a beautiful series of books? My mini-artsplorer was gifted a few of the Octonauts books for Christmas, and since then we’ve spent a lot of time with these stories. I think you’ll love them as much as we do.

Written by the Canadian/American creative duo Michael Murphy and Vicki Wong, who call themselves MEOMI, there are six books in the Octonauts books series. The characters are all the same as in the television show, with just a few small visual details having been changed in their transition to TV stars.

The illustrations are gorgeous and detailed. There are so many clever little touches. It usually takes us some time to get through each book because we keep noticing new things to look at on each page. There are visual jokes that the kids will love, as well as some that will be appreciated by sharp-eyed parents. Here are a few of my favorites.

MEOMI also have a lot of fun playing around with the physical structure of the pages, with some turned sideways for a long image. One of my favorite little jokes is when the Octonauts are searching all over the world, and you have to turn the book upside down for their adventure to the Southern hemisphere. I love these little touches.

We were given The Octonauts and The Only Lonely Monster, about an octopus who is looking for a friend like him; The Octonauts & the Frown Fish, about a fish that is inexplicably glum all the time; and The Octonauts and the Great Ghost Reef, about a reef that has lost its color (a very subtle message about reef bleaching and our responsibilities to the ocean). We’ve since added The Octonauts and the Sea of Shade about what happens when shadows decide to walk off the job. Each one is equally as charming as the other.

So, if you have an Octonauts lover in your life, I’m sounding the Octo-alert – these Octonauts books are an addition to the collection that both of you are going to love equally.

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