Julia and the Shark

Starred review from January 23, 2023
A tempest-tossed race to locate an ancient Greenland shark upends a family in a heart-wrenching novel reminiscent of The Line Tender. Ten-year-old Julia, whose family cues as white, is spending her summer on the Shetland island of Unst while her programmer father automates an old lighthouse and her marine biologist mother attempts to study a recently sighted Greenland shark. After the family travels from Cornwall and arrives at the damp lighthouse, Julia quickly befriends Kin, a local boy who experiences bullying around his Indian heritage. When the shark evades discovery and her mother’s grant applications are met with rejection, Julia begins to see her mother’s boundless passion and impulsivity in a new light, as well as experience increased tension and desperation within the usually tight-knit family. Plagued by dreams of a phantom shark and swept up in her parents’ conflicts, Julia takes drastic and potentially dangerous action. Wry first-person prose by Millwood Hargrave (The Way Past Winter) drives Julia’s burgeoning, age-appropriate understanding of her parents as fallible but wholly lovable people in a story that explores bipolar disorder, dementia, and varying kinds of knowledge. Sparse illustrations from de Freston render Julia’s experiences in shades of black, gray, and a bright, emotive yellow. Ages 10–up.

February 15, 2023
Grades 4-7 Rather than a white whale, the characters in Hargrave's new novel are chasing a whale-sized shark. Julia and her parents (and cat, Noodle) are spending the summer on a remote Shetland island so that her father can repair its lighthouse and her mother, Maura, can get a tracker on an elusive Greenland shark to secure funding for an ambitious research project. There's not a lot for Julia to do, but she forms a rocky friendship with a local boy, Kin, and clings to hope that her mother will take her out on the sea. Julia greatly admires her mother, yet, while they're on the island, Maura's passion grows into reckless obsession, which Julia struggles to reckon with. Pensive and poignant, Julia and the Shark falls readily in line with Ali Benjamin's The Thing about Jellyfish (2015) and Kate Allen's The Line Tender (2019) in its examination of grief and mental health. Poetic shifts in the text and collage-like illustrations--grayscale with yellow accents--add to the story's loveliness. Discussions of bipolar disorder and suicide are present and handled well.

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Starred review from January 15, 2023
A 10-year-old girl from Cornwall faces the truth about her mother. Only child Julia is spending the summer with her parents at the Unst lighthouse in the Shetland Islands. Her father was hired to automate the lighthouse's light, and her mother, a scientist, wants to find the rare Greenland shark, a species that can live up to 400 years. On a trip into the village, Julia meets Kin, whose family owns the combined laundromat/library. Julia soon realizes that Kin is being bullied by the local boys because his parents are from India. No stranger to bullying herself, as she was targeted by girls because of her weight, Julia (who is White) and Kin develop a friendship based around looking at the stars through Kin's father's telescope. Then Julia's mother, who's been repeatedly turned down for grants to fund her shark expedition, begins exhibiting more erratic behavior. Even as her father tries to reassure Julia that it is just a phase, she senses her mother's withdrawal and thinks that if she can find the shark by herself, her mother will get better. Written in the first person with a compelling dry wit, this story addresses the tough topics of bullying and bipolar disorder with poise and empathy. The potent illustrations, rendered starkly in black, white, and yellow, put it in a class by itself. Often spanning double-page spreads, these masterpieces of design create a powerful atmosphere that deepens, enriches, and fortifies the narrative. Outstanding. (further reading, resources) (Fiction. 9-13)

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Starred review from November 24, 2023

Gr 3-7-Julia, age 10, moves with her parents to a lighthouse on a remote island for the summer. Her father has been tasked with fixing the lighthouse, while her mother is determined to catch a sighting of the rare and elusive Greenland shark. But when her mother turns her marine biologists' dream into an obsession that threatens to bankrupt the family, Julia begins to see her mother through a different lens and makes connections from long-forgotten childhood memories. This is a poetic look at mental illness. Illustrations invoke the chaotic feelings of a young girl struggling to understand the situation around her, while also trying to make new friends and deal with bullies. The symbolism of the broken lighthouse and the ever-present but elusive shark creates a depth of character that is strengthened by stirring moments when Julia reflects on her own feelings of anxiety and helplessness. The back matter includes resources for learning more about conservation and the environment, as well as resources to support mental health for children and young adults. VERDICT A poignant book about mental illness that includes timely topics of science and the environment, this is highly recommended.-Ashley Grillo

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