Otto Can Hold Everything

Name: Otto Can Hold Everything
Author: Allison Colapietro

From the mind of Allison Colapietro

About 5 min aloud
A StoryBeam Original
Six painted-paper pictures

For the grown-up reading along

Otto is a helper who says yes to everything, and the book is on his side: every favor is real, every friend is kind, and the pile only gets silly because of arithmetic. The counting chant lets a child add up the arms on their own fingers, one and one and two and three and one make eight, before the story needs them all. When Tilly asks for a hug, Otto does not scold himself or anybody else. He says sorry, asks for his arms back, and lets go, and his friends find out they could hold their own things after all. The hug is the part that matters, and then everybody wants one. For a child who likes to be in charge of everything, or a grown-up who is, the short version is Otto's: sometimes you need your arms back.

Otto the octopus had eight arms, and he loved to count them.

"One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight!"

"With eight arms," said Otto, "I can hold anything. I can hold EVERYTHING!"

Otto the octopus stands alone on the sandy reef floor in his teal beanie, all eight arms curled out wide around him, empty and easy to count. — One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight!

One morning, Crab came scuttling by with two shells. Crab was a hermit crab, and he was moving house.

"Otto, could you hold my old shell while I try on the new one?"

"No problem!" said Otto. "I have eight arms!"

One arm for the shell.

Then Puff the pufferfish came wobbling by in his best seaweed hat.

"Otto, could you hold my hat? I think I'm about to puff."

"No problem!" said Otto. "I have eight arms!"

He took the hat just in time. POOF! Puff puffed up, as round as a ball.

One arm for the shell. One arm for the hat.

Then Turtle came paddling by, knitting a very long scarf.

"Otto, could you hold my ball of wool? And the end of my scarf?"

"No problem!" said Otto. "I have eight arms!"

One arm for the shell. One arm for the hat. Two arms for the knitting.

Then the three shrimp came hopping by, all at once.

"Otto! Otto! A whale is going by, and we can't see over the rocks! Could you hold us up?"

"No problem!" said Otto. "I have eight arms!"

He lifted one shrimp, two shrimp, three shrimp, up high. Far away, a great big whale went gliding past. "Ooooh," said the shrimp.

One arm for the shell. One arm for the hat. Two arms for the knitting. Three arms for the shrimp.

Otto stretches three arms up high with a little pink shrimp on the tip of each, a whale gliding far off above them, while his other arms hold a shell, a seaweed hat, a ball of wool, and the end of a scarf, and one arm curls empty. — Three arms for the shrimp.

Then Clam opened her shell. "Otto, could you hold my pearl for a minute? I need a really big yawn."

"No problem!" said Otto. "I have eight arms!"

Clam yawned a great big yawn. It went on, and on, and on.

One arm for the shell. One arm for the hat. Two arms for the knitting. Three arms for the shrimp. And one arm for the pearl.

Otto counted. "One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight!"

Every single arm was holding something. The shell wobbled. The hat wobbled. The shrimp wobbled, and giggled.

"Look at me!" said Otto. "I am holding EVERYTHING!"

And that was when Tilly came drifting by.

Tilly was the smallest seahorse on the reef. Her tail was curled up tight, and her head was down.

"Otto," she said, in a tiny voice, "I had a bad dream in my nap. Can I have a hug?"

"No problem!" said Otto. "I have eight..."

He looked at his arms. The shell. The hat. The wool and the scarf. One shrimp, two shrimp, three shrimp. The pearl.

Otto had eight arms, and every single one of them was full.

For the very first time in his whole life, Otto said, "Problem."

Otto stares wide-eyed with every arm full, holding a shell, a seaweed hat, wool, a scarf, three shrimp, and a pearl, as a small pink seahorse floats in front of him looking up, and the reef friends watch from behind. — Every single arm was full.

Otto looked at everything he was holding. Then he looked at Tilly.

"Sorry, everybody," said Otto. "I need my arms back."

And he let go.

Down drifted the shell, gently, gently, and Crab caught it in one claw. "Oh," said Crab. "I could have held that."

Down drifted the hat, and landed right back on Puff. "Oh," said Puff. "It fits better when I'm not puffed."

The wool drifted down to Turtle. The pearl drifted down to Clam, who had finished yawning ages ago. And the three shrimp just swam off.

"We can swim," said the shrimp. "We forgot."

Then Otto wrapped Tilly up in a hug. Not a one-arm hug. Not a two-arm hug.

A one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, EIGHT-arm hug.

It was the biggest hug on the whole reef. Tilly's tail uncurled, just a little.

Otto wraps all eight arms gently around Tilly the little pink seahorse, his eyes closed in a big soft smile, her face peeking out from the middle of the hug. — The biggest hug on the whole reef.

"Better?" said Otto.

"Better," said Tilly.

Crab looked at Puff. Puff looked at Turtle. Turtle looked at the shrimp. The shrimp looked at Clam.

"Otto," they all said together, "could we have one too?"

Otto looked at his eight arms. They were empty. They were ready.

"No problem!" said Otto. "I have eight arms!"

One arm for Crab. One arm for Puff. Two arms for Turtle, who was big. Three arms for the shrimp. One arm for Clam. And Tilly was right in the middle, where a hug is warmest.

Then Puff puffed. His hat popped off. Nobody held it. It was fine.

Otto hugs everybody at once, his arms around the crab, the pufferfish, the turtle, the three shrimp, the clam, and Tilly, all of them smiling, while the seaweed hat floats away above. — Nobody held the hat. It was fine.

Otto Can Hold Everything, in full

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