Misunderstood Shark

January 29, 2018
The live TV show “Underwater World with Bob,” staffed entirely by aquatic creatures, is suddenly interrupted by a shark who is about to consume a little orange fish right on camera. Once Shark realizes that he has an audience, he changes his tune. “You misunderstood!” he demurs, still clutching the terrified fish. “I was just... showing him my new tooth!” The host tries to play along, offering shark facts as Shark—smitten with his new public persona—claims that he is also being misunderstood when it seems like he wants to eat a baby seal or some beach-going humans (“I brought Band-Aids!” he roars). Shark is so persuasive that the octopus holding the boom mike declares, “The ocean gets its saltiness from the tears of misunderstood sharks! I read that somewhere.” Magoon’s cartooning is both funny and visually striking as the toothy, scenery-chewing Shark plays to the camera and zips through the green-blue water, barely resisting his primal urges. And the playful typography used for Dyckman’s rapid-fire dialogue makes her blooper-reel humor even funnier. Ages 4–6. Author’s agent: Scott Treimel, Scott Treimel NY. Illustrator’s agent: Rebecca Sherman, Writers House.

May 1, 2018

K-Gr 2-Jellyfish Bob, television host of Underwater World with Bob, has Shark as his guest. Shark seems to be easily distracted but is intent on presenting himself in a positive light. In the middle of the interview, when shark goes off to chase a fish (he claims to be showing the fish his new tooth), a baby seal (just taking him back to his mother), and the smell of blood (giving the human on the beach a box of Band-Aids). Jellyfish Bob, like any good host, covers by entertaining the audience with interesting facts about sharks. Kids will like the wild, exclamatory text even if it feels a bit disjointed to adult readers. As she does in her title Wolfie the Bunny and Boy + Bot, Dyckman hits the mark of both hilarious and sweet. Magoon's illustrations (a pink jellyfish with a cowboy hat and glasses, a yellow squid working the boom mic, and a bright orange squid wearing his sunglasses on his forehead and working the clapper board) make up a fabulous cast that swim around in cool-colored waters, ranging from bright greens to deep indigos. VERDICT Make no mistake, this is a fun addition to any collection, best for reading close-up and one-on-one.-Hillary Perelyubskiy, Los Angeles Public Library

Copyright 2018 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

March 15, 2018
A maligned shark steals the show to explain just how wrong his fellow fish are about him in Dyckman and Magoon's debut collaboration.Sporting a stylish fedora atop his bell, Bob, a jellyfish TV host, is about to start his show when a great white shark interrupts. Bob begs Shark not to eat a fish on the air, and Shark, with a big smile to the audience, insists he had no intention of eating anyone and simply wanted to show off his new tooth. After all, "sharks can grow and lose 30,000 teeth in their lifetime"--never mind that they lose most of them by using their powerful jaws on their prey, a "fun fact" that Bob, perhaps sensibly, omits. Bob never does quite get control of his show back as Shark hauls off first to eat a baby seal (whom he really just wanted to return to her seal family) and then to chase down a source of blood (so he could offer a Band-Aid). Although she seems to gender all her characters male with the exception of two ungendered squid production assistants and the female baby seal, Dyckman otherwise gives ambiguity the narrative spotlight with well-honed tension prolonging readers' indecision. Meanwhile, Magoon's flair for underwater illustration also allows a shark's redemption and his prey's suspicion to both live on the page. Readers will need to decide for themselves if Shark is really as scary as he seems or if misunderstandings have colored our opinions.Fun and playful...or so Shark would have us believe. (Picture book. 4-8)

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March 15, 2018
Preschool-G Bob the jellyfish is the host of an underwater TV show, and while taping his latest segment, he's interrupted by a hungry shark chasing a cute fish! Time to panic? Not quite?the shark explains that he's not trying to eat the fish, just showing him my new tooth! Chasing after a baby seal? He's returning it to his family. Blood sending him into a ravenous frenzy? No worries, he's just handing a Band-Aid to a beachgoer. At every initially terrifying turn, dubious Bob takes the opportunity to share a shark fact and dispel a myth ( you're . . . more likely to be bitten by another person than bitten by a shark ). Though the ultimate conclusion somewhat undercuts Bob's attempts to make sharks seem less scary, the over-the-top humor, comical asides from the TV crew, and Magoon's boisterous, candy-colored artwork, in thick lines and cartoonish shapes, will lure in many a reader. The sneaky shark facts will go down easy in this uproariously silly picture book.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)