Clark the Shark Dares to Share

March 1, 2014

PreS-Gr 2-Clark the Shark loves school, but sometimes he gets confused. Why, for example, is he supposed to share his caps with his brother but it's not okay to ask Amanda to share her ice cream? Why isn't it sharing when he decides on his own to take a turn at a game behind his friend's back? By the end of the story, Clark realizes that sharing, although complicated, might be worth getting right. The energetic story combines bright, colorful cartoonish illustrations with humorous text to address the concept of sharing. As in the previous book, the characters in Clark's world speak in an enthusiastic tone and much of the text rhymes. Exaggerated facial expressions help convey their emotions. Although the book explores the many ways to share, the message is driven home in a rather didactic manner. The text is too long to read aloud for a preschool storytime, but this book could be helpful for parents to read one-on-one with their child to start a discussion of when and how to share.-Amy Seto Musser, Denver Public Library

Copyright 2014 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

July 1, 2014
Clark the Shark, that well-meaning but sometimes-too-rambunctious fish, is back to learn another school-based lesson: sharing, both of toys and of the limelight. There's no disguising the story's intent, but the message goes down easy through Clark's silly antics, which are reflected in both the lively text and the just-as-spirited-as-Clark undersea illustrations.

(Copyright 2014 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)