45 years after Octopus’s Garden was first written, Ringo Starr will publish a children’s picture book with Simon & Schuster.
Ben Cort, the illustrator of Aliens Love Underpants and a life-long Beatles fan, has been signed up to illustrate the book. Cort made his name with the hugely successful Underpants series written by Claire Freedman, which has sold over a million copies across 19 languages.
Drummer Ringo Starr first composed Octopus’s Garden, one of the best songs inspired by the sea, in 1968, when holidaying in Sardinia on Peter Sellers’ yacht. The boat’s captain, having offered Ringo an octopus lunch (which he turned down), explained how octopuses trawl the sea bed for shiny stones and objects to put in front of their caves, like something of a garden, and so inspired the lyrics for the song which first appeared on the Abbey Road album in 1969.
Ben Cort, the illustrator of Aliens Love Underpants and a life-long Beatles fan, has been signed up to illustrate the book. Cort made his name with the hugely successful Underpants series written by Claire Freedman, which has sold over a million copies across 19 languages.
The book will be published as a stunning hardback edition plus CD, with audio content to include an original, previously un-heard music track from Ringo and a reading of the story.
“As an original Beatles fan, publishing this book is a dream come true for me. By bringing Ben Cort on board we have arranged the perfect marriage of a truly child-friendly text, based on Ringo’s popular song, with illustrations that revel in the imaginative opportunities presented by the lyrics. This is a beautiful and funny book that children, parents and grandparents will love sharing,” said Ingrid Selberg, Children’s Publisher at Simon and Schuster UK.
Octopus’s Garden will be published in the UK on October 24th as hardback and CD, followed by a paperback edition in 2014.
