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Essential Shark Week Reading for Sharklettes

Will no one think of the children?! Well, we did and we're here with some Shark Week reading for the kids.

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Raych Krueger

Staff Writer

Raych has so many kids (like, two, but they’re super young, which makes it seem like there are more of them) and this really cuts into her reading time. She’s using her degrees in Early Childhood Education and English Literature to teach the toddler to read to the baby so she can get back to her trashy Victorian sensation novel, or whatever. She’s also teaching her kids to travel and eat broadly, mostly through example (Do As I Do is super important, you guys), and hasn’t gone a year without hopping on a plane since she was a teenager. She recently moved from the Canadian coast to the Canadian prairies, where it gets hella cold, and if not for the internet, she’d surely be dead. Blog: Books I Done Read Twitter: @raychraych

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Shark Week has (omg don’t do it) jumped the shark (I’m sorry, I’ll see myself out) and the programming is completely ludicrous now and I don’t care because sharrrrrrks. One of the few things in nature that looks as completely fucking terrifying as it actually is. Good job on that heads-up, nature!

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Oh shit.

But Shark Week is not just for people allowed to say the phrase ‘completely fucking terrifying’! Children, for whatever reason, love these sleek, murder-eyed machines. Bring some sharkiness into your child’s or niece/phew ‘s or random small stranger’s life with these toothsome (sorry. SORRY) Shark Week reading recommendations.

The True Story of How Eugenie Clark Became the Ocean’s Most Fearless Scientist– Jess Keating

Oh my godddddddd start here start here with this ladyscientist doing science in the faces of scoffers, and also SHARK FACTS.

Hark! A Shark!: All About Sharks – Bonnie Worth

Shark facts in rhyme!

Shark vs Train – Chris Barton

Who Would Win In A Fight is one of my favorite theoretical games and this book is ABSURD and also highly amusing.

The Three Little Fish and the Big Bad Shark – Will Grace, Ken Geist, Julia Gorton

‘[t]he skin of my finny-fin fin’ is an acceptable substitute for ‘the hair of my chinny-chin chin,’ you may proceed.

Clark the Shark – Bruce Hale

Clark is so winsome and well-intentioned! Ilu, Clark. Clark learns to tone it down a bit in this book about using your inside voice where appropriate (he learns other stuff in other books; Clark is an absolute enterprise).

Shark in the Park – Nick Sharratt

I shamelessly love die-cut books where a thing looks like a different thing than it is, and then you turn the page and are shocked and delighted. This is one of those.

Fly Guy Presents: Sharks – Tedd Arnold

I know that Fly Guy is just a gimmick to get me to buy this book about sharks (speaking of absolute enterprises) but it worked, alright? I enjoy his schtick.

Shark Dog

This book is a goof, I am cry-laughing. SharkDog forever.

As with shark books for oldsters, this is a particularly h’white (and overly dudish) subject area, so while I would love ALLLLL your recs for sharky picture books, I will especially delight in ones by women and authors of color. Shark me in the comments with your Shark Week reading recommendations.

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Shark weeeeeeeeek!