Raring2go! Rochdale

Raring2go! 25 ‘Lark the Shark’ by Nathalie Newman and Henry Newman (Age 7) Raring2Read! BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FAMILIES Does your family enjoy reading? Then join our Facebook group, to share ideas, tips and recommendations. www.facebook.com/groups/raring2read Lark the Shark is a tale written by Natalie Newman and her son Henry Newman (7 at the time of writing), about a friendly shark who sets out to challenge people's perceptions of him. When the children in class are taught about scary, dangerous sharks, Lark the shark over- hears and is sad; he decides to prove he is friendly and helpful. This aspect of the story gives parents and teachers the ideal opportunity to open dialogue about stereotyping, how it can affect us to be on the receiving end of that, and how we can effectively challenge and over- come stereotyping. It also can be used to talk about emotions, and how we deal with them. Lark demonstrates that he is indeed a friendly shark, with many lovely qualities, and proves to be really helpful by collecting all the litter in the oceans - litter created by humans! Such a lovely yet powerful tale, beautifully told through the words, rhymes and colourful illustrations. Natalie, who has always had a passion for literature - a pas- sion shared by Henry too - loves sharks. She had a con- versation with Henry about how unfair it was that sharks have such a bad reputation, 'After all,' she told us 'all they are doing is being at home in their ocean.' Henry's school home- work topic at that time was en- vironmental pollution - yet pollution of our oceans and seas wasn't part of that topic. When Henry learned more about the pollution of our oceans he was shocked, and asked 'Mummy, what can we do to help?' It didn't take long for them to combine it all to- gether, and come up with the idea of Lark - the friendly shark who helps clean up the sea. Aimed at readers from 2 - 8 years old, Lark the Shark has won lots of praise for highlight- ing the issues of pollution to younger readers, and has been shared by The Marine Conser- vation Society on their UK Ocean Schools Resource Hub.