A young girl becomes fascinated with sharks and casualties of shark attacks one Christmas on the coast of Australia. Back in England she maps her anxieties onto shark attacks and avoidance in a lava floor way. The art is simple but expressive with photo-realistic sections which even in b&w were too realistic - shark inflicted wounds - for me. ( )

semi-autobiographical graphic memoir - a six year old girl worries about shark attacks during family trips to Australia. ( )

The story was alright, though the shark obsession struck a chord...kids and their obsessions and all that. The art was really great. I loved the out-of-water shark scenes the best. ( )

This review is pretty great and helped crystallize my thoughts, thought I certainly didn't see the lack of preachiness as the book's strong suit. (I would also argue that Wyld isn't entirely neutral on the subject, little Evie does indeed seem sickened by some of what she sees, even if adult Evie isn't more vocal in her disagreement.) I mean, how do you not take a side on shark finning? You can't even fall back on the pretense of sustenance, since you're tossing most of the meat away. The art and prose are both lovely, but I'll pass on the animal cruelty. ( )

Sharks are scary is my sole takeaway from this book. Since I already knew that, this book was a waste of my time. ( )