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.

November 15, 2018
Grades K-1 In this delicious sequel to Misunderstood Shark? (2018), the action picks up without a hitch as naturalist TV host Bob the jellyfish, justly annoyed at being eaten and then barfed up in the previous episode, roundly scolds his great white acquaintance, whose protestations of innocence ( But I swear on all the bones in my body ) are as fishy as his luridly toothy grin. As before, each exchange comes spiced with a tasty term ( gastric eversion ) or fact ( You don't HAVE any bones in your body. Shark skeletons are made of cartilage! ), anxious side remarks from the multispecies camera crew, and a broadly brushed marine scene that Magoon enhances by floating in the odd comical prop, anatomy chart, or loud body sound. When Bob at last signs off, it's with a promise of more chewy facts to come. Definitely one to dish up alongside Ryan T. Higgins' We Don't Eat Our Classmates (2018), Heidi McKinnon's I Just Ate My Friend (2018), Elanna Allen's Poor Little Guy (2016), and other culinary-themed disquisitions on social proprieties.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)