Sharkman and Blowfish world domination by David Woodland

When baby blowfish hatches out of his egg on the reef he is entirely alone. Small for his age, he is bullied at the Kraken Elementary school but always remains optimistic, enjoying the view when hanging from the basketball hoop and feeling clean after being put in the washing machine. His passion is learning about sharks and so when the new kid, a young great white shark, big for his age, befriends him they make a formidable team. Blowfish’s can-do attitude and amazing creativity combined with Sharkman’s big ideas and powerful family empire make world domination a real possibility.

The detailed drawings throughout the book are stylishly presented in monochrome with some wonderfully imagined machines in a variety of landscapes around the world. I particularly liked the fishy pops, displayed on the endpapers, that feature throughout the book. Some of the text seemed a bit clunky and poorly integrated with the graphics and sudden jumps in the timeline at the beginning were a bit confusing. The spoilt, egotistical Sharkman is not very likeable and the page where he has an axe for cutting down trees is a bit too nasty. Overall the story is fun and quirky, the graphics engaging and the characters consistent and well developed. Despite many attempts they don’t quite achieve world domination, leaving their story open to be continued.

Themes: Inventions, Creativity, Friendship, Ambition.

Sue Speck