Surfin' Sharks

by Nidhi Chanani, Nidhi Chanani (Illustrator)

Overview

"This sweet early reader comic can be read simply as an enjoyable story, or it can be a catalyst for discussion with younger readers about their sense of self."
—School Library Journal

Surf's up! Another fin-tastic graphic novel adventure awaits with your favorite shark princesses, Kitana and Mack!

Shark princesses Kitana and Mack are back, just in time to attend the ocean's first Surfin' Sharks competition! Surfing is Mack's favorite sport, and he's been working really hard on his routine. But after a high-flying performance, he becomes discouraged once he sees a more talented shark and decides to quit for good.

But after some helpful encouragement from Kitana and a young shark who admires his skills, Mack learns that surfing isn't all about winning or losing—it's about having fun!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780593464717
Publisher:	Penguin Young Readers Group
Publication date:	03/26/2024
Series:	Shark Princess , #3
Sold by:	Penguin Group
Format:	eBook
Pages:	80
File size:	29 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.
Age Range:	5 - 7 Years

About the Author

Nidhi Chanani is an award-winning author and illustrator of over a dozen books. Her graphic novels include Pashmina, Jukebox, and the Shark Princess series. She wrote and illustrated the picture book What Will My Story Be? She’s illustrated a number of picture books, including I Will Be Fierce, Strong, and Binny’s Diwali. Nidhi lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her family.

Editorial Reviews

Praise for Surfin' Sharks:

"Lessons on being true to oneself and supporting one’s friends are deftly layered into the humorous, lighthearted narrative . . . Another 'jawsome' combination of small adventures and clear, worthy messages." —Kirkus Reviews

Praise for the Shark Princess series:

An Amazon Best Book of the Month!

"A finny, funny foray that encourages inclusivity even when it comes to play."
—Kirkus Reviews

"The story is overt in its message of self-love, and the digitally rendered artwork is clean and simple with calming washes of ocean blue and scattered bursts of fun color. A wholesome addition to the growing collection of early graphic novels for beginning readers."
—Booklist

“Who gets to be a princess? That’s the crux of this firmly inclusive, emotionally generous graphic novel by Chanani. Readers are immersed in an undersea cartoon world where Kitana, a whale shark sporting a seashell-and-starfish crown, is the self-declared 'first shark princess.' Mack worries that [his] dangerous teeth and severe allergies are instant disqualifiers [to be a princess], but it’s his realization that expression and identity aren’t about rules or permission that make this series starter sparkle.” 
—Publishers Weekly

"This sweet early reader comic can be read simply as an enjoyable story, or it can be a catalyst for discussion with younger readers about their sense of self. This engaging story with bright and dynamic artwork can be enjoyed by beginning readers, who will devour the fun story and laugh at the jokes.
—School Library Journal

"This first installment in Chanani’s comics series introduces sharks Kitana and Mack, best friends enjoying an undersea day together. [Chanani] has a lot of fun with language, tossing in puns (“she shore would”) and coining fishy lingo (“somefish”) for the early-chapter-book crowd. The story is gentle, but the theme—each of us gets to decide what to label ourselves—is deep."
—Horn Book

"Keeping things buoyant, Chanani tucks jokes about peeing in the ocean into this sequel to Shark Princess along withmeaningful exchanges about different preferences when it comes to being alone or with others. Glides along on a warm current of affirmation that princesses, despite their differences, are united in a love of adventure."
—Kirkus Reviews

From the Publisher

2023-12-06
Finny friends leap into a third round of adventures and attitude adjustments.

Mako shark Mack is proud of his surfing prowess—until slender, graceful sawshark Telo beats him out at the first Surfin’ Shark Competition, and he grumpily announces that if he can’t be the best, he’s done. Whale shark Kitana, his canny fellow “princess,” thereupon leads him to a “shark spa,” or undersea geothermal vent where the dark water’s too hot for all but other sharks. By the time Mack has used his “sharkle”—the shark sparkles that emanate from his crown—to help reunite a lost baby shark with its mama, he’s mellowed out enough to realize that surfing is too much fun to worry about being best or not (which the other sharks have been telling him all along). So, in a “fintastic” finish, he joins the whole cartilaginous cohort of contestants and spectators in acrobatically riding a collective “party wave,” before going back to chillax in the smoky “spa.” As in the previous installments, lessons on being true to oneself and supporting one’s friends are deftly layered into the humorous, lighthearted narrative. Chanani’s two leads sport crowns but, like all the species of sea life in the cartoon panels here, are otherwise drawn with reasonable fidelity to nature.

Another “jawsome” combination of small adventures and clear, worthy messaging. (“hide and sea” game, facts about sharks and geothermal vents, drawing lesson) (Graphic fiction. 7-9)

Kirkus Reviews