1. Animals
2. Art techniques
3. Book design
4. Camouflage
5. Endpapers
6. Environmental destruction
7. Marine life
8. Nonfiction
9. Pollution
10. Seas and oceans

The book’s front cover invites the reader to ‘Met Mim’ but who is Mim? Is Mim a brown spotted flatfish or perhaps a banded sea snake? Maybe Mim is a hermit crab or a jellyfish floating in the ocean’s currents. Or Mim could be a seahorse or a stingray? This is very confusing, which one of these creatures is Mim.

It is none of them. Mim is a mimic octopus, an amazing marine creature whose favourite game is to fool everybody. The mimic octopus, (species name ‘Thaumoctopus mimicus’), is a master of disguise changing its colours and shape to look like other animals. Only discovered in 1998 in the shallow waters of Indonesia it has been sighted on the Great Barrier Reef. Its ability to disguise itself is a clever protective device as it forages in broad daylight on open shallow sand flats where it is exposed and vulnerable to other marine creatures.

The book’s illustrations are realistic and rich in detail and colour and deserve close inspection. The front endpaper shows a variety of sea creatures many of which Mim mimics. Mim’s shallow ocean home is cleverly created with light and shadows, colour and texture bringing the seabed to life. The first spread shows the sparkling yellow green sea found near mangroves and the water’s edge. The double page spreads abound with sea creatures and, sadly and topically, pieces of plastic polluting the waters.

At the back of the book are ‘5 Fabulous Facts about the Mimic Octopus’. An interesting, useful, and beautifully created book.

1. EK Books Teaching Notes for ‘Meet Mim’ by Sandra Severgnini https://ekbooks.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/Teachers-Notes__Meet-Mim.pdf
2. Reading Time 17 November 2023. Julie Deane reviews ‘Meet Mim’ by Sandra Severgnini https://readingtime.com.au/meet-mim/
3. Kids’ Book Review 18 October 2023. Review of ‘Meet Mim’ by Sandra Severgnini http://www.kids-bookreview.com/2023/10/review-meet-mim.html
4. Story Links 26 October 2023. Sandhya Parappukkaran reviews ‘Meet Mim’ by Sandra Severgnini https://storylinks.booklinks.org.au/2023/10/26/meet-mim/
5. MarineBio Mimic Octopus https://www.marinebio.org/species/mimic-octopuses/thaumoctopus-mimicus/