Brian L. Tucker

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 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.… (plus d'informations)

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 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!!… (plus d'informations)