‘ It was a beautiful day in Blue Bottle Bay when the fish all gather together to play.’
Here’s a story about a friendly shark who has no idea that maybe he frightens people. He wants to make friends and tries to do so by surprising a school of fish- they run away; a group of pirates trying to bury treasure – they run away; children at a birthday party – they run away and so on. Back home and discouraged he reads a book on how to make friends and has an idea. He sends an anonymous invitation to everyone he has previously scared away. They all come and decide that they like him after all. Conclusion: ‘Friends are often made in surprising ways‘.
Told in rhyme and some speech bubbles this debut picture book is brightly illustrated in strong colours by Patrick Corrigan who is very experienced at creating attractive work for young children. The shark always looks happy even though everyone else is every colour of surprised and terrified.
It could be used by teachers and parents to talk to children about effective ways to make friends, and what someone’s scary appearance and behaviour may be really about.
‘ It was a beautiful day in Blue Bottle Bay when the fish all gather together to play.’
