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Review: Shark Teeth

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By Sherri Winston
New York: Bloomsbury Children's Books, 2024. Fiction. 292 pages.

Kita, short for Sharkita, is hoping that everything will be normal this time. Last time, Kita and her siblings, five-year-old Lilli and eight-year-old Lamar, ended up with different foster families after their mother didn't come home for nine days. Now that they're back together, Kita is holding her breath, hoping that mom will take care of them instead of drinking and partying. All this while trying to be a normal seventh-grader and handling her anxiety, which feels like a shark coming to get her.

Shark Teeth is an emotional story that is hard to read, but so uplifting. Winston's descriptions of Kita's anxiety and panic attacks feel vivid and she showcases a heartbreaking example of parentification and neglect. But though all that is hard about this book, it is balanced with light comic moments with Kita's friends and even a sweet early romance. It is empowering to watch Kita not just stand up for herself against her mom, but learn to let people take care of her as she reclaims being a child.

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