Review: Boy vs. Shark

By Paul Gilligan

Toronto, CA: Tundra Books, 2024. Comic. 234 pages.

In 1975, 10-year-old Paul is enjoying a perfect summer with his best friend David Chu. David and Paul could hardly be more different -- David is a risk taker and Paul would rather stay at home and read comics -- but they still find ways to make their friendship work. Their comfortable harmony is thrown for a loop with the arrival of two looming villains -- Swain, the meanest kid in the neighborhood, and the movie Jaws. Swain starts hanging out with David, which makes Paul start to worry about his perceived wimpiness. In an effort to prove his bravery, he asks his dad to take him to see Jaws, the summer blockbuster horror movie that everyone is talking about, and it terrifies him. Suddenly, Paul is seeing the shark everywhere, and it starts bullying him into being more "macho" to fit in with Swain and David. Will he ever "man up"?

As a reader who was not alive in the summer of 1975, I was captivated by the setting that Paul Gilligan created and all of the specific details that make the era come to life. Beyond the incredible setting, Paul, David, and all their friends were realistic characters in this coming of age memoir. This story, mostly about friendship, growing up, and confronting toxic masculinity, will be popular with readers who like other graphic novel memoirs.

Comments

Funny Farm by Mark Teague 2009

There are things I liked about Mark Teague's newest book, Funny Farm , and things I didn't like. Where should I start? I'll do the "didn'ts" first. The illustrations show animals personified. Well, some of the animals are. The main characters, Edward, and his farm family relatives, all dogs, are humanized. They stand upright, do farm chores, eat at a table, wear clothes, knit (yes, with paws) and sleep in beds. Most everybody else on and around the farm, who are also animals, act like animals. They are outside, roll in mud, live in the barn, and require care from their owners. It struck me the most on the page spread where there are pigs playing in puddle in the rain and Edward, a black and white boxer, watches from inside the house. I thought "You're a dog! Go play with them!" But, alas, he can't, seeing as how he goes through his entire visit to the farm wearing a suit and red bow tie. Another picture that bothered me was the maple syrup pa...

Review: Super Boba Cafe

Super Boba Café By Nidhi Chanani New York: Amulet Books, 2023. Comics. 215 pages. 14-year-old Aria is excited to spend her summer in San Francisco getting quality time with her Nainai. She loves helping at her grandmother's Super Boba Café. But she can't help but notice that her grandmother is acting strange and secretive. She refuses to let Aria into the kitchen at all and she disappears at the same time each night without telling Aria where she goes. Meanwhile, Aria is eager to drum up more business for Super Boba Café. She gets a major windfall when the shop cat, Bao, surprises them by having kittens, and Aria realizes this is a major social media opportunity. She knows this will help Nainai's shop, but she is apprehensive to get back on social media after a terrible cyberbullying experience she had back home. As the shop starts to get busier, Nainai is more and more anxious about her secret project. This prompts Aria to investigate with help from her Nainai's neighb...

Plain Kate

Plain Kate by Erin Bow Scholastic, 2010. 314 pgs. Fiction Katerina Svetlana is named after her mother, who died giving birth. Her father, Piotr the woodcarver, calls her plain Kate and she is soon known as Plain Kate, after the butcher's witticism, because she is "plain as a stick." But her father calls her Kate, my star. Piotr teaches his daughter to carve and she is on her way to becoming a master when her father dies of a strange sleeping sickness that plagues her town and the country round about. In a magical land, Kate has no magic but her skill. Still, she is so good her neighbors think her a witch and drive her away, but not before a real witch comes along and she trades him her shadow for the promise that she won't have to travel alone. He gives her a talking cat. Kate falls in with gypsies who also find reason to hurt and abandon her and she is rescued by the witch who takes her upriver in a terrible quest to avenge his dead sister and bring her back from...

Provo Library Children's Book Blog

Search This Blog