The Great White Man-Eating Shark by Margaret Mahy and Jonathan Allen
| The Great White Man-Eating Shark by Margaret Mahy and Jonathan Allen | |
|
| |
| Category: Emerging Readers | |
| |
Reviewer: Julia Jones
 | |
| Summary: a timeless, simple story with humourous illustration. | |
| Buy? yes | Borrow? yes |
| Pages: 60 | Date: June 2015 |
| Publisher: Orion | |
| ISBN: 9781444014389 | |
|
Share on: | |
|
| |
This is the story of Norvin who was a good actor but rather plain. In fact he looked like a shark… There were not many parts in the world of theatre for boys who looked like sharks so Norvin took up swimming. Soon he was able to shoot through the water like a silver arrow but he found it tedious having to share the delightful space of Caramel Cove with all the other swimmers. Almost every young reader will be able to guess what Norvin did next – but they might not anticipate the way in which his plan goes wrong.
Margaret Mahy's humorous and eccentric stories were favourites with my children when they were young. The Great White Man-Eating Shark is a reprint from 1989 and proves timeless. It was the first to be picked from an attractive pile of new books by my six and seven year old grandchildren. It's an easy early reader but the quality of the writing and the hilarious illustrations by Jonathan Allen make it appealing and non-patronising across the age range. Highly recommended.
The inside front and back covers of this edition have the neat marketing idea of showing front covers of other titles in the early reader series and asking children to tick which they have read. I would choose Horrid Henry by Francesca Simon – four stories published together as Horrid Henry's Royal Riot make a good value buy. Chocolate Porridge by Margaret Mahy is also highly recommended.
Please share on: 
Facebook, 
Twitter and
Instagram
You can read more book reviews or buy The Great White Man-Eating Shark by Margaret Mahy and Jonathan Allen at Amazon.co.uk Amazon currently charges £2.99 for standard delivery for orders under £20, over which delivery is free.
You can read more book reviews or buy The Great White Man-Eating Shark by Margaret Mahy and Jonathan Allen at Amazon.com.
Comments
Like to comment on this review?
Just send us an email and we'll put the best up on the site.
