Review originally posted at The Children's Book and Media Review

Clark the Shark loves school, but sometimes he gets confused about some things. Sharing is one of the things that he gets confused about. He tries to share his appreciation for Benny Blowfish’s song, but Mrs. Inkydink says that he has to wait his turn when he starts dancing. He doesn’t understand why the giver has to choose to share instead of just sharing in the first place. When he wants to share his hockey skills, his team is upset that Clark didn’t let anyone else score. Finally Clark learns what sharing is, and it makes him and everyone else happy.

This book is meant to teach about sharing, but it doesn’t feel didactic. Instead, it shows how sharing sometimes can be complicated but still rewarding in a humorous way that children will be able to find relatable. The content may be useful for preschool aged readers, but it could be too long with too many words for some children to appreciate at that age. The references to “Sea Wars” might bring a smile to fans of Star Wars. This is a fun, colorful book to learn about sharing.
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clark the shark is having a hard time learning how to share. he interacts with all his friends and learns what sharing is not. finally he understands how to share
4 books
4 CD books

In my opinion, Clark the Shark Dares to Share is a good book for younger children just learning the meaning of sharing. The main character, Clark, makes errors in understanding what sharing means by cutting in line, not passing the ball to his teammates during a game of hockey, and eventually taking a friend’s toy without asking and accidentally breaking it. When he arrives home, his brother had chewed through one of Clark’s baseball caps that he borrowed and Clark was very upset. He goes through what happened throughout the day and finally learns what sharing really means and bakes a cake for his entire class. I liked this book a lot because it shows children the importance of sharing. The illustrations are very well done and the colors are beautiful. The book itself is also very creative and I thought the puns throughout the book were very funny. One thing I am not sure if I like or not is that Clark had to learn on his own what sharing really meant, without the help of anyone else. I think maybe the story would have been enhanced by his teacher or his mother helping him through and answering his questions. The fact that Clark had to figure out himself what sharing means may not appeal to kids very much. ( )

Clark's schoolmates teach him about sharing. ( )