I sought out Lori Mortensen’s 2021 picture book Arlo Draws an Octopus because I had enjoyed her 2018 If Wendell Had a Walrus.
I was not disappointed, and the similarities are clear. There are the obvious and ultimately minor similarities: male lead character (with a slightly old-fashioned, two-syllabus name), involved with sea creature. Those could easily be dismissed or changed: Arlo could be Helen or Sarita without an issue.
The larger similarities are the ones that matter. In both books, a relatively isolated child enjoys an innocent, even touching, desire, Wendell wanted a walrus. Arlo likes octopus and decides to draw one. There’s some frustration. Wendell can’t have a walrus. Arlo finds he’s bad at drawing octopus, maybe even so bad that it defines who he is. He even things “Maybe…I am not an octopus drawer.”
Then there’s a twist, and friendship that makes everything better. Wendell made a human friend. Arlo is really frustrated, “perturbed” even, and so crumples and tosses his drawing. However, because he’s been taught not to litter, he walks over to pick it up…only to pick up someone else’s wadded up drawing.
It is, in fact, an octopus’s drawing, and the octopus picks Arlo’s drawing up just as Arlo picks his up. Both are pleased, even charmed, by each other’s drawings, and both see them as much better than their creators had thought. They exchange kind words, and then better of themselves, which leads to greater emotional stability–and another twist at the book’s end.
There are lessons here, quietly told through implications: kids can be artists, artists can be too hard on themselves, friends can help us see the best in ourselves. But those can soak in gently. The story’s main draws are the relatable Arlo, the fun situations, and Rob Sayegh, Jr’s illustrations, which move between bright, cartoon-ish images and crayon squiggles that really do look like something a kid might draw.
