Octopus Socktopus is a childrens book written by Nick Sharratt and published in 2008.

It is available in paperback and hardback, this review is based on the paperback version.

The cover is bright, colourful and glossy. It has 2 octopus on the front (one wearing different socks on all eight legs).

The book is quite flimsy and can be bent backwards and forewards - this is good in some ways but children are very heavy handed and whilst our copy is in good condition at the moment I don't suspect it will be too long before it gets damaged (the corners are already starting to get bend marks). Fortunately the book isn't completely weak and is actually quite tough for a paperback. If I realised at the time that the book also came in hardback then I probably would have paid a couple of pound extra and brought that because it's definitely a book for keeps.

Octopus Socktopus has 24 pages and includes tabs and flaps for added fun.

The first page has an octopus on holding a sign saying "This book belongs to ..." which gives the child an opportunity to write their name in.

The book starts with a regular octopus and goes on to more random and bizarre octopus. Each page has a fun octopus illustration and the name of the octopus underneath or above.

There is a Socktopus (the same as the octopus with socks on the cover), Goldilocktopus (an octopus with blonde bunches, eating 3 bowls of porrige), Cuckoo Clocktopus (with is a pop up cuckoo clock which has a tab that needs to be pulled up to open a door to reveal an octopus), Toffee Choctopus (which you unwrap like a sweet to reveal a brown/chocolate octopus), Scary Shocktopus (a white octopus with black background and bats), Chicken Pocktopus (a pink octopus with red spots), Doctorpus (an octopus with glasses, stethascope, bowtie and medical bag - the medical bag is a flap which can be opened to expose the contents of the bag), Helicopterpus (a pop up octopus with hopter on his head), Punk Rocktopus (octopus with spikey pink hair, guitar and safety pin through his nose), Furry Octopus (a fluffy octopus with cat face), Eight-Wheeled Octobus (a bus full of octopus which has 4 wheels that can be spun around), Party Frocktopus (a girlie octopus in a dress - the skirt of her dress is a flap which you can lift up to see her knickers - above it says 'Knickerbocktopus!').

The last page is a blue door with 'Knock Knocktopus' written on, when you open the door (which is a flap) it slides out a dozen different octopus with party hats, blowers and streamers and says 'Chock-o-blocktopus'.

As you can see the book is quite a strange one but is very unique and fun. Sometimes I feel like I enjoy it as much as my 2 year old daughter! It makes a refreshing change to most of the other books we read together. She really enjoys this book and particularly the pages with flaps and tabs as it allows her to interact.

Although my 2 year old likes it, I also think older children will enjoy it and find it interesting and funny. Because of the strangeness of the book I'd say it would best suit 3-7 year olds.

The only downsides really are that some of the flaps and tabs can be ripped and generally destroyed so it's best to keep an eye on the little ones.

It is priced at £6.99 although I'm sure you can get it cheaper if you shop around. It's currently for sale at Amazon.co.uk, Waterstones, WHSmith and Borders to name a few.

Overall Octopus Socktopus is a very fun, amusing and unique book which all children will love.