Praise for Octopus Moon:
A 2025 School Library Journal Best Book of the Year
★ “Pearl’s struggles will resonate with readers who grapple with feelings of not being enough…Pearl adopts good management skills in the form of setting goals…repeating some mantras—“My family will always love me. The ocean will always be there. The moon is always full”—to assist her in moving forward in life. This is an important purchase for all children’s and teens’ library shelves.”—School Library Journal, starred review
“Octopus Moon shines with resilience, hope and kindness. Oh, how I wish I’d had this book when I was a kid!”—Katherine Appelgate, author of the Newbery Award winning The One and Only Ivan
“This novel in verse details Pearl’s depression, from initial struggles to accepting help…and the stigma around mental illness, and helps her forge a path onward…The narrative itself offers excellent coping strategies… the emphasis is on how using these skills affects her character… [and] healing…Pearl’s resilience, hope, and bravery shine like her namesake.”—Booklist
“I have so many feelings about this necessary, honest, B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L book. I love Bobbie Pyron’s poetry. Buy it, read it, share it!“—John Schu, librarian and author of the New York Times best-selling Louder Than Hunger
“Pyron artfully presents Pearl’s navigation of her new diagnosis [depression]… The descriptions of symptoms, including physical exhaustion, provide a window into her experiences… described in the spare verse… Pearl’s relationships to the secondary characters are rich and evocative… A full-bodied and authentic exploration of living with depression.”—Kirkus Reviews
“Pyron weaves a story with heart, compassion, and authenticity. From the first page, Pearl is a character you want to hug.”—Barbara O’Connor, New York Times bestselling author of Wish
“Pyron uses metaphor gorgeously in this compelling verse novel, from Pearl explaining feeling like an octopus (There is no barrier between what an octopus feels / and its world”) to her older sister telling her that even when it doesn’t look like it, the moon is always full…Eschewing toxic positivity or easy fixes, [Octopus Moon] presents the varied ways people live with mental illness, in Pearl’s grandpa, who also deals with depression though he’s never named it, and in her two best friends, who both have struggling family members. Through it all, Pearl knows that her family loves her, the ocean will always be there, and the moon is always full.”—BCCB Reviews
“Pyron…employs a raft of apt ocean similes to elucidate Pearl’s depression with complexity in this perceptive, instructive, and hopeful verse novel, taking care to note that the moon is always full, even when ‘we can’t see that from/ down here.’”—Publishers Weekly
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