Science

• Life Science
• Environment & Ecology
• Biography / Memoir

Why it works: The Soul of an Octopus follows Sy Montgomery from New England Aquarium tanks to tropical reefs as relationships with Athena, Octavia, Kali, Karma, and other octopuses deepen. Escapes, play, color changes, feeding tricks, and individual temperaments turn the problem of another mind into intimate immersion journalism.

• Life Science
• Comics / Graphic Narrative

Why it works: Max Axiom travels from Earth's earliest cells into plant and animal cells and down among their molecules in a comic-scale expedition. Cell structures and functions become locations in the adventure, while human shrinking and swimming among molecules remain visualization devices.