The Scary, Gray Shark

Early Reviewers. The illustrations are ok, but the story is lacking. It ended abruptly with no real beginning, middle, and end. A shark is lonely because everyone is scared of her until a dolphin decides to leave her pod and hang out with the shark all summer. Why instill fear in children about sharks? Other species are "safe" but the shark isn't? Is the moral of the story that you should play with scary people? That family will abandon you if you disagree? This has potential but is a bit of a miss as is.

I received this book as part of LT's Early Reviewer program.

(Full disclosure, I am a marine scientist, so this type of material is very important to me.)

This book was.....disappointing. Firstly, I have issues with the title...we should be encouraging kids to be curious about the ocean, not afraid of it. Sharks are not "scary" and I'm really tired of them being called scary/terrifying/maneating in kids books. The art, while charming and colorful, was at times inaccurate (sharks do not have visible pupils, for example....but glassy dark eyes that look dead). The story was also bizarre and I agree with the reviewer regarding familial rejection/disowning. This is not something we should be reinforcing in children, because then they'll never show more have their own opinions. Finally, the ending was very abrupt and just left the book hanging without a real ending.

0/5...please stop calling the ocean and what lives in it scary. It's not!! show less

Full disclosure: I was given a free copy of this book as part of LibraryThing's monthly giveaways.

I really didn’t like this book. The art is gorgeous. However, the story is not written for those who are family-oriented. After meeting the dolphin, the shark asks her about her family. “Won’t you be missed?” The dolphin replies, “They don’t like me too much now that I’ve talked to a shark.” The dolphin doesn’t miss her family, either. I have issues with the implication that taking any action your family disagrees with will result in being disowned, or that friendship requires giving up family.

It also doesn’t feel finished. The ending is very abrupt.

Full disclosure: I was given a free copy of this book as part of LibraryThing's monthly giveaways. I am a huge fan of sharks. They're my favorite animals (well, tied with cats).

This is a simple story about a female bull shark named Zella who leads a solitary existence because the other lifeforms in the ocean are afraid of her, until she is finally befriended by a courageous dolphin, and the pair have adventures together.

The illustrations are beautiful (gorgeous color and style), and the story made me feel good. I think this book would appeal to any young child who loves underwater creatures, especially sharks and dolphins. The story is not complicated, so I think it's most appropriate for toddlers and preschoolers. But it could also be show more a good introduction to the idea of not pre-judging anyone; that friends can be found everywhere, and that just because your classmate or that kid on the playground is alone doesn't mean they want to be alone, or aren't worth befriending. show less

As a preschool teacher, I am always interested in reading new children's books especially anything having to do with animals. I have a lot of kids who adore sharks, and while I believe the description of the shark was meant to be misleading (sharks are not actually scary), that was the only captivating part of the book. The books is a bit all over the place. Yes, Zella is a friendly shark and other sea creatures view her as "scary" but she becomes friends with a dolphin who doesn't think she is scary. The wording a storyline is a bit all over the place. The illustrations were amazing but that's the only thing that I found to be fascinating. I wish the author kept it simple and proved that there was no reason to believe sharks are scary show more when Zella befriends the dolphin. Unfortunately I don't think I will read this to my class because they will be left just as confused as I was. show less

My daughter loves sharks and so we were excited to get this book, however it felt very unfinished. The illustrations were great but it ended sort of abruptly and we were left wondering what happened. Not our favorite book.

Beautifully illustrated, and a story of friendship, but the story was a little lacking.

A few nicely introduced facts about sharks, but doesn't explain the relationship between sharks and dolphins and why this is a unique friendship - it tells only that everyone is afraid that a shark might eat them.

Received a free copy of this book as part of LibraryThing's Early Reviewers program