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Why Read This Book
- TOON Books are leveled to help you match books to your child’s reading level.
- TOON Books include helpful notes on “how” to read a graphic novel. These notes can be very helpful to both parents and kids.
- TOON Books are very well-designed so they help children develop their reading skills. One of the complaints about graphic novels is that they don’t do a good job challenging the reading skills for kids. While that complaint applies to some graphic novels (and also plenty of other kids books), the truth is that it is possible for a graphic novel to help kids build reading skills. TOON Books is a publisher who demonstrates how this can be accomplished. TOON Books give us the best of both worlds – they are highly enjoyable due to the many illustrations AND they help children become better readers.
- The book fair at your child’s school may feature graphic novels, but unfortunately those graphic novels are often not the highest quality. The stories can be poor in terms of portraying behaviors we don’t want kids to model. Children age twelve and under commonly model behavior they read in books. When that same behavior is “against the rules” and “gets the kids in trouble” it creates a lot of confusion for the children. Because the books they read say “do this” while the adults who gave them access to those books say “don’t do that”. TOON Books do not fall into this trap of demonstrating poor behavior.
- Another common concern with graphic novels is that the illustrations and writing can be weak. I hope this situation improves in the future, but at the time of the writing of this article it is unfortunately the case with the most commonly used book fair company (Scholastic). Instead of the cheaply produced book fair books, you can introduce your young reader to the excellent graphic novels published by TOON Books. Trust me – these books are fun and enjoyable for kids to read AND will introduce your kids to excellent stories and writing, paired with fantastic illustrations.
A book from the publisher TOON Books is an absolute feast for the senses. From the words to the illustrations to the book design to the content. Every child deserves their very-own-copy of their favorite TOON Book.
Sarah Laucks, Founder of Beehive Books and Art
Book Facts
Author and Illustrator: R. Kikuo Johnson
Copyright: Published in 2012
Publisher: TOON Books
Age Range: Grades 2 and 3
Type of Reader: Emerging Readers, Early Independent Readers
About the Book Art: The artwork for this book was drawn in ink and colored digitally.
Awards: Winner of many awards including Winner of the Asian Pacific American Librarians Association’s Literature Award; Association for Library Service to Children’s Graphic Novels Reading List 2013, 2014, 2016; Greater Boston Jewish Coalition for Literacy’s July Book of the Month, and more.
Expansion Circle Ideas
Culture: Looking for a book to read with emerging readers during Asian Pacific American Islander Month, celebrated in May each year? The Shark King is an excellent choice. The book tells the story of young Hawaiian boy and aspects of his life that are unique to being Hawaiian. The cartoonist is Hawaiian and his book takes readers inside his native world and culture.
Explore More: Visit the publisher’s website for TOON Books to discover more wonderful and high quality graphic novels. There’s a lovely section with activities for kids and some articles for parents. You may also enjoy the additional resources for this book available on this page of the Toon Books website.
Geography: Do you have a globe? It’s a great thing to include at your home. Looking at a map of the world that is flat is not the same experience as seeing the placement of countries and more on a globe. After reading this book get your globe out and find the state of Hawaii with your kids. It’s especially important for them to see Hawaii’s location on the globe versus a flat map – the flat map often shows Hawaii as being very close to the coast of California and young children don’t grasp the actual distance between the mainland USA and Hawaii out in the Pacific.
Get the Book
The Shark King is available both new and used, in hardcover and paperback.
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BORROW this book from your local library:
Visit your local library to borrow a copy of this book. If you don’t see it on their shelves, ask them to request the book for you. You may be able to request the book online through their website; if that does not work talk directly with library staff to make your request.
See Inside
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