JANUARY 2012 - AudioFile
What’s it called when hammerheads, great whites, threshers, and makos all hang out together? “Shivers” of sharks. They're battling for food and territory, although they also have council meetings and go to school. Gray, a 12-year-old juvenile reef shark, tells the story, and he's both petulant and good-hearted, just like any human teen, as he joins a rogue shiver and hides out in a sunken ship. There's some humor—though Gray and his buds have way more bite than the SpongeBob crew. Joshua Swanson gives all these fish (and there are a lot) voices, with special attention to Gray and his dogfish pal, Barkley. Sharks are a little hard to warm up to, but Swanson reels listeners in. M.M.C. © AudioFile 2012, Portland, Maine
School Library Journal
Gr 4–7—Gray is a young reef shark growing up in Coral Shiver, one of the shark clans established in the sea in ancient times. The shivers rule the Big Blue, but they must be careful to avoid the "landsharks" who run the world above, hunting and devouring so many fish, including the mighty sharks. Gray, who is growing larger and larger, keeps sneaking off to hunt on his own—something he is as yet forbidden to do—until at last he is exiled from Coral Shiver. Gray's friend Barkley, a dogfish, soon joins him and they try to find a new clan. They encounter Goblin Shiver, which is a bit like a rough street gang ruled by tough-as-barnacles Goblin and sneaky Velenka, who has plans of her own to rule. The first volume of what will obviously become a long series, this story establishes, but doesn't develop, many threads. The result is a sketchy tale with underdeveloped characters and plot, and without a resolution.—Walter Minkel, Austin Public Library, TX
JANUARY 2012 - AudioFile
What’s it called when hammerheads, great whites, threshers, and makos all hang out together? “Shivers” of sharks. They're battling for food and territory, although they also have council meetings and go to school. Gray, a 12-year-old juvenile reef shark, tells the story, and he's both petulant and good-hearted, just like any human teen, as he joins a rogue shiver and hides out in a sunken ship. There's some humor—though Gray and his buds have way more bite than the SpongeBob crew. Joshua Swanson gives all these fish (and there are a lot) voices, with special attention to Gray and his dogfish pal, Barkley. Sharks are a little hard to warm up to, but Swanson reels listeners in. M.M.C. © AudioFile 2012, Portland, Maine
