Song of a Thousand Seas by Zana Fraillon

Days are for watching listening playing planning but

nights are for adventure

Houdini the octopus is a girl but in the world of this book, which we see through her eyes, she refers to herself as we (due to the fact octopuses have nine brains).

Not Welcome

Our nine Octopus brains have a lot we'd like

to say to the Waves of People who

come every day to stare and gawk to

squeak and squawk to squeal to bang on our glass

we'd have a lot to say if only they

knew how to listen

The first thing we'd say is

GO AWAY!

Houdini lives in an aquarium. It is not large and I find that so awful:

We want to say that in the day we

do not hunt at all. The Sea is so very

big so very full but our tank is so

very small so

very empty.

Far too empty

for too small for

hunting.

Like being safe is all

that matters. Like a tank two arms long in

all directions is

any kind of Home. Like

the bubbles from the pump

are enough of an ebb and flow to make us happy

when we know

to be happy is to be free.

Her keeper (is that the right term) is named Paul. In fact I dislike that title keeper - and I am not a fan at all of animals in captivity so I come to this story with a high level of empathy and also quite a bit of rage. Have you twigged about the name Houdini - yes she is an escape artist and who can blame her. Octopuses are not meant to languish in an aquarium for our (human) viewing pleasure. She needs to get back into the ocean - think about the title - her heart needs to hear the song of a thousand seas. 

Luckily Houdini is very clever and yes she can escape but she also knows she has to be very careful of Paul because he is sure to 'fortify' her tank even more and then escape might be impossible. Then we discover Houdini has two human friends, Joe the cleaner and Juno, Paul's daughter, and they do have enough emotional intelligence and also enough understanding of the plight of animals in captivity to know Houdini needs her freedom. I think this is because Joe and Juno also have experienced pain. 

Every night Houdini tries to find her way to the pipes in the bathroom because they lead to the sea but she doesn't quite make it before she needs to be back in the water and so Joe carefully carries her back to her tank. As a reader I was holding my breath hoping that she would make it and be free again. 

Zana Fraillon is one of Australia’s most interesting writers for young children, experimenting with form and voice and offering layered and intelligent narratives. ‘Song of a Thousand Seas’ is a lyrical verse novel of homecoming and friendship focusing on Houdini the octopus who lives in an aquarium, but she misses her home in the wild sea. This is a thought provoking and compelling story ideal for readers aged 8-12, and a great read aloud for teachers. Paul Macdonald 

Here are some very detailed teachers notes.

Do you ever think about author names? I think the name Zana Fraillon is a perfect one for an author. It sounds exotic and mysterious to me. Also I am giving this cover by Aviva Reed top marks - it is fantastic. Australia is a relatively small country and yes I agree we do have some really good authors who write for children but there are a few that are way beyond just good - authors whose work can stand up with the very best in the world - one of those authors is Zana Fraillon. Make sure you pop this book onto your library shelves - the readers in our lives and libraries deserve to read the very best books and this is one of them.

You can see Zana Fraillon talking about her book on this video. Houdini was a real octopus - you must share this with the readers in your library. Thank you to University of Queensland Press (UQP) for sending an advance copy of Song of a Thousand Seas (due for publication 2nd September 2025)

LAUNCH - Song Of a Thousand Seas will be officially launched! Come join the wonderful @kmildenhall and me in conversation @readingskids in Carlton on Saturday the 6th of September from 2pm. There will be sea stones to decorate, awesome octopus tattoos, cupcakes and an octopus quiz with octopus prizes so be sure to brush up on all those octopus facts! All books signed will include the one of a kind ‘signature’ by the real Houdini. Tickets are free, but registrations are necessary.

I have talked about lots of verse novels here on this blog - click that search term on my sidebar.

Companion books:

My Friend the Octopus

Odder

The One and Only Ivan (look for the sequels too)

In 2018 Zana Fraillon's book The Bone Sparrow was our IBBY Australia Honour book title. This means her book goes into a very important international book catalogue and also becomes part of a travelling exhibition. 

Zana Fraillon is an internationally acclaimed, multi-award-winning author of books for children and young adults. Zana's books have won the Amnesty CILIP Honour Award, the ABIA Book of the Year for Older Children, the Readings YA Prize, NSW Premier's Literary Awards and the CBCA Honour Book Award. The Bone Sparrow was chosen as the biennial book to represent Australia for the International Board on Books for Young People. Zana was born and lives in Naarm (Melbourne) but spent her early childhood in San Francisco. She has degrees in history and teaching and is undertaking a PhD in Creative Writing at La Trobe University.

Other books I have talked about by Zana Fraillon:

The Way of Dog

A small collection of Happiness

This should be the CBCA Younger Readers Book of the Year 

but alas it didn't even make the notables list - I am still in shock about that.

The Raven's Song

Very young readers might also look for another book by Zana Fraillon called Etta and the Octopus illustrated by Andrew Joyner. 

Journey to the River Sea by Eva Ibbotson

15th Anniversary edition

This will just be a brief post because I have already talked about Journey to the River Sea back in January, 2012. I first read this book in about 2001 so reading it today means I have read this book three times - that is very unusual for me but in this case I do have a purpose.

Eva Ibbotson died in 2010. In June 2022, Emma Carroll published Escape to the River Sea - a book inspired by Journey to the River Sea. I am really keen to read this new book because I enjoyed many other books by Emma Carroll but it also seemed important to reacquaint myself with the original Amazon adventure first. Very luckily I spied Journey to the River Sea at a charity book sale for just $2. 

Blurb: In 1946, Rosa Sweetman, a young Kindertransport girl, is longing for her family to claim her. The war in Europe is over and she is the only child left at Westwood, a rambling country estate in the north of England, where she'd taken refuge seven years earlier. The arrival of a friend of the family, Yara Fielding, starts an adventure that will take Rosa deep into the lush beauty of the Amazon rainforest in search of jaguars, ancient giant sloths and somewhere to belong. What she finds is Yara’s lively, welcoming family on the banks of the river and, together, they face a danger greater than she could ever have imagined. Featuring places and characters known and loved by fans of Journey to the River Sea (including, among others, Maia, Finn, Miss Minton and Clovis) this spectacular story tells of the next generation and the growing threats to the Amazon rainforest that continue to this day.

Other Emma Carroll books I have read;

Letters from the Lighthouse

The week at World's End

In Darkling Wood

The Girl who Walked on Air

The Little Match Girl Strikes Back

Sky Chasers

The Ghost Garden

The idea of continuing or building on a classic book is an interesting one. Emma Carroll did her version of The Little Match girl.  Here are some other books that do this:

The Princess and the Suffragette

Return to the Secret Garden

The Magic Faraway Tree a new adventure

I am a huge fan of Eva Ibbotson. I loved One Dog and his Boy.

The Barnabus Project by The Fan Brothers

Deep under the city there is a sinister workshop where Perfect Pets are made. Sometimes the experiments go wrong and so, in a remote part of the laboratory, there are a series of bell jars holding the failures. Barbabus is one of the failures. 

"He was half mouse, half elephant, and he had lived in the lab as long as he could remember."

The failed pets are fed by huge scary creatures in green rubber suits. None of the "pets" have ever been outside the lab but a small cockroach tells them stories each evening of green spaces, mountains and stars. Barnabus longs to feel the grass under his feet. Barnabus lives by the credo:

"Nothing is impossible."

He is determined to escape and so he bashes into the side of his bell jar until in finally cracks under the pressure of his screams. Barnabus sets all the other Failed Projects free and they all set off to escape their underground prison. This process takes team work and hope but all twenty-two of them, plus one extra surprising friend, do find their freedom and that all important happy ending.

This is a story about identity, determination, teamwork, consumerism, and hopes and dreams.

This book was written for all the misfits, artists and dreamers out there. The Fan Brothers Facebook

Barnabus wonders:

"He wasn't fluffy enough, and his eyes were beady, but he liked himself just the way he was. And what if, after he was recycled, peanuts and cheese were no longer his favourite foods? What if his friends didn't recognise him after? What if he no longer cared about green trees and mountains lit with their own stars?"

When I first saw this in a local bookshop I knew I wanted to read it but the hardcover price was well above my book budget. Luckily this book is now available in paperback for well under AUS$20 which is wonderful for a larger format book with way more than 32 pages. This book should be added to every Primary school library - and shared widely with students and staff - it is fabulous!

The book design here is simply perfect. Take your time to linger over the front and back end papers, the title page and the final illustration on the author bio page. Think about the graph paper that is included and the paperclips. You can see inside this book here.  In this video (Moon Lane TV) you can see Eric drawing some of the characters. You could share this 19 minute video with an art class or a group of older students. And here is a video reading by Eric, Terry and Devin Fan. 

This epic tale of escape and liberation, set in a clandestine underground lab producing genetically engineered Perfect Pets, stars courageous Barnabus, half mouse, half elephant ...A heartfelt, timely allegory celebrating diversity, bravery, and solidarity.   Kirkus Star review

In the Fan brothers’ hands, the result feels like a happy amalgam of Jules Verne, Maurice Sendak, the Moomins, and Monsters, Inc. Quill and Quire

This book is a visual feast.  And the story? It is dream-like science fiction in picture book form. Jilanne Hoffmann

‘In a world built for Perfect Pets, half-mouse half-elephant Barnabus is a Failed Project who dreams of freedom. Shaun Tan meets “Toy Story”’ — The Bookseller

Awards:

• 2020 Governor General's Award for Young People’s Literature – Illustrated Books.
• The 2021 TD Canadian Children’s Literature Award.
• Nominated for the 2022 Kate Greenaway Medal.
• The 2021 Le Prix Ficelle, category age 6-7.
• 2021 Saskatchewan Young Readers’ Choice Awards, Shining Willow Award.
• 2020-2021 Maryland Black-Eyed Susan Award.
• 2021-2022 Vermont Red Clover Book Award.
• The 2022 Washington Children’s Choice Picture Book Award.
• The Surrey School’s Picture Book of the Year (for primary readers).
• A Kirkus “Best Books of 2020.”
• Chicago Public Library “Best Books of 2020.”
• 2021 Bologna Book Fair Finalist.

I just finished reading a novel for older readers -  They Threw us Away by Daniel Kraus. It was a harrowing book to read but it has a similar theme of rejected toys, identity, value and consumerism. Thankfully The Barnabus Project has a joyous happy ending. I need to read the two sequels to They Thew us Away in the hope this more complex senior novel also has a "they all lived happily ever after" conclusion. I will talk about They Threw us Away over the coming days. 

This book reminded me of The Adventures of Beekle. 

I guess you could link The Barnabus Project with the Toy Story movie series. I would also look for these:

Ruby and Little Joe

Who are you Stripy Horse?

Eight

Teddy & Co. 

If you are reading The Barbabus Project book with an older child try to find Boot which is also about a failed project - in this case a robot. 

Boot

Always Clementine by Carlie Sorosiak

She's a mouse. She's a genius. She's on the run.

Clementine is a mouse living in a laboratory. She has been breed to test intelligence. She has a super brain. But one of the lab workers is distressed by the cruelty to the animals as they are used for science experiments and so one evening he grabs Clementine and another mouse named Hamlet. He does not know where to take them without getting caught himself, so he ends up putting them into the letter box of a well-known television presenter. 

"Back at the lab, I had many theories about the Outside: what would it smell like (fresh), what would it taste like (woodchips but woodier.). I wondered if the Outside was just another series of boxes, a maze within a maze. But it isn't. It's open! It's wide!"

Pop, the owner of the letterbox, is a former chess champion. His grandson Gus has come to stay for the Summer. Pop has given up chess and he won't explain why. Gus is a keen player but at Pop's he has to play by himself until they both discover Clementine is a genius and brilliant at chess. She is also a fugitive. How can Pop and Gus save Clementine and her friend Hamlet and can they also save the other poor mice back in the lab?

This lab does not just have mice, though. Clementine has a best friend at the lab - a chimpanzee named Rosie. Clementine is so desperate to return to her friend but she also discovers the scientists have plans to dissect her brain so returning is way too dangerous. All Clementine can do for now is write letters (in her mind) to her best friend. That is the structure of this book - it is a series of letters from Clementine to Rosie - a blow by blow account of her six days of freedom.

Do you see my five stars for this book? I read this whole book (308 pages) in one sitting. I highly recommend you add this book to your library shopping list. It might also be a terrific class read aloud for Grade 4 or 5. 

Starting with the adorable cover, this is a book that is sure to appeal to animal lovers and may turn some of them into activists. Kids Book a Day

Friendship and love are key in this poignant, sometimes gently humorous book, as are the importance of social justice and what true goodness really means. Be prepared to lose your heart to Clementine as she bares her soul in her letters. Red Reading Hub

Publisher blurb: I am an optimist. A very difficult thing to be, sometimes, at three inches tall. Clementine is a genius. She can calculate pi to 69,689 places, remembers the exact moment she was born, and dreams in Latin.  She’s also a mouse.  And when she escapes from the lab which has bred her, Clementine discovers that it’s not enough to be the smartest mouse in history if she wants to survive in the real world – especially while the scientists who kept her are trying to recover their prize specimen. So, together with her new human friends, Clementine must find a way to earn her freedom – for good.

You can hear the first chapter here.

Book Depository blurb: Clementine is different from other mice: she can calculate the speed of light and she dreams in Latin. The scientists say she's a genius and put her through test after test. Clementine is proud of being a good lab mouse, but she's lonely. Her only snatches of friendship occur during her late-night visits with a chimpanzee named Rosie. When a compassionate lab technician frees Clementine, the mouse discovers an outside world full of wonders: Brussels sprouts, games of speed chess, television fame, and a chance for a real home. But for Clementine, it's not enough to be free when she knows that Rosie and the other mice are not. 

Here is another cover from the hardcover edition - I prefer it - do you?

The most obvious book to link with Clementine is The One and Only Ivan.  Other companion reads are:

Word of Mouse

Mousenet

The Umbrella Mouse

A couple of years ago I read another book by Carlie Sorosiak - it's another five star book. Here are the US and UK covers:

I, Cosmo

Truman by Jean Reidy illustrated by Lucy Ruth Cummins

pensive

Truman is a small tortoise who lives with his friend Sarah. The city is filled with busy people and loud noises but Truman is peaceful and pensive and so is Sarah until the day something strange happens. Truman watches Sarah start her day in a different way - eating a huge banana, putting on a new sweater, strapping on an enormous backpack.  It was so big "thirty-two small tortoises could ride along in it - but zero tortoises did." Sarah gives Truman extra green beans - this is very puzzling and then:

"she kissed her finger and touched it to his shell and whispered 'Be Brave.' Then she left."

She left!! Truman is filled with worry. Will Sarah come back? Why did she take that big pack? And what's going on with those extra beans?

"Truman waited for Sarah to return. He waited. And waited. He waited a thousand hours - tortoise hours, that is - until he could wait no longer."

Truman knows he must catch the number 11 bus heading south. He finds a way (1,2,3) to climb out of his tank. The world outside (in Sarah's room) is huge and filled with danger but Truman keeps going. As he reaches the closed bedroom door he hears a noise. It's Sarah returning from school! Their reunion is so joyous.

You can see some of the illustrations from Truman here at Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast.

The word pensive appears in this story four times. What a glorious way to acquire a new word. I think Truman is an essential purchase for every school library. It is a perfect picture book.

I won't say why but this flower is especially important in the story:

The emotions of Truman are clearly conveyed and his worry is tangible … Waking Brain Cells

TRUMAN is simply a beautiful book that I recommend to teachers,parents, writers, and readers. Basically, everyone. Nerdy Book Club

This little creature has big courage, something to which small humans can relate. Horn Book

Peaceful and pensive like Truman himself, this book charms;there’s just something uplifting and wonderful about the whole package. Kirkus Star

Here are the author and illustrator web sites.  I would pair this book with Felix and Alexander:

You might also revisit the classic story - Corduroy.