How to Hide an Octopus and Other Sea Creatures

Ruth Heller (1923-2004) began her career designing wrapping paper, cocktail napkins, greeting cards, and coloring books after receiving a fine arts degree from the University of California at Berkeley and completing two years of graduate work in design at the California College of Arts and Crafts in Oakland.

After five years of rejection and one complete revision, Heller’s first book, Chickens Aren’t the Only Ones, about egg-laying animals, was published in 1981. Its success led to the quick publication of its sequel, Animals Born Alive And Well (1982), about mammals. Her third and fourth titles, The Reason For A Flower (about plants that have seeds and flowers) and Plants That Never Ever Bloom (about plants that do not), were published in 1983 and 1984, respectively.

She then embarked on a collection of six books, the How To Hide series, focusing on camouflage throughout the animal kingdom, covering insects, birds, mammals, amphibians, reptiles, and sea creatures. This was followed by a five-volume series on parts of speech:

• A Cache of Jewels and Other Collective Nouns
• Kites Sail High: A Book About Verbs
• Many Luscious Lollipops: A Book About Adjectives
• Merry-Go-Round: A Book About Nouns
• Up, Up and Away: A Book About Adverbs

Heller also wrote and illustrated Color, a guide to the four-color printing process in art.

Notable influences on Heller’s writing include Ogden Nash, Gilbert and Sullivan, Edward Lear, Hilaire Belloc, and Dr. Seuss. Heller stated, “All my books are nonfiction picture books in rhyme. I find writing in rhyme enjoyable and challenging, and I think it is an easy way for children to learn new facts and acquire a sophisticated vocabulary. Children are not intimidated by big words. I try to make my writing succinct and allow the illustrations to convey as much information as possible.”

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