Reviewed by Wendy Lipke
Sharon Dalgleish, once a teacher, now writes non-fiction and poetry books for children. To date she has published over fifty books for the education market as well as texts and resource books for current primary school teachers.
Her latest book, Saving Shark Pup, is the true story of a great white shark pup who washed up on Manly beach in September 2017. It was rescued by the local community and eventually released back into the ocean after much concern over its survival success.
This rectangular hard covered picture book traces the story of this occurrence. To ensure accuracy the author interviewed the aquarist who stayed with the stranded fish throughout the rescue. The author’s aim in writing this story is to create a better awareness of the great white sharks’ vital role in the ocean ecosystem and to celebrate their beauty and mystery which is rarely celebrated.
The book presents this rescue in simple words on pages with beautiful water-colour illustrations by author and illustrator, Amandine Thomas, whose work has found a home across the globe. In a different size and font on the pages can be found important facts about this species.
Throughout the thirty odd pages of this story, the illustrations and colours mirror the changing mood and actions during each stage of the rescue.
The author has provided a note at the end of the story in which she tells the reader that a young boy in the crowd that witnessed this incident, named the shark pup Fluffy and that the shark pup was 1.8 metres long and believed to be about three to five years old. It was decided not to tag it with a tracking device because they did not want to increase its level of distress. Nobody knows what happened to this shark, but we can always have hope.
Her last words were ‘For Fluffy and all the ocean’s sharks’.
This is a beautifully presented story with educational value.
Saving Shark Pup
(2026)
by Sharon Dalgleish
Allen & Unwin
ISBN:9 781761 182013
$24.99; 36pp