When my daughter got up this morning she told me that she had rescued a shark from the bath in the middle of the night and taken it back to sea. There’s a Shark in the Bath has made a huge impression on her. Like Dulcie in the story she is a small girl with a big imagination!
The Story: Dulcie fishes a shark out of her bath but then finds two more. The sharks want to eat her but she manages to distract them with games. The sharks get scared when Dad threatens trouble if there is a mess in the bathroom so they help Dulcie tidy up before returning to the sea. When Dulcie goes downstairs for breakfast she finds something else unexpected in her cereal bowl (but I won’t spoil the surprise!).
Dulcie has lots of fun with the sharks although they constantly threaten to eat her. Baby Shark is fascinated by the toothpaste so the first game involves teeth cleaning (including Baby Shark’s braces). Papa Shark’s choice of brush makes us laugh, he chooses the brush in the bathroom which has the most germs! Games with bubbles and toilet paper follow, you can imagine the state of the bathroom while they’re playing!
The illustrations in There’s a Shark in the Bath are colourful, busy and full of wonderfully, humorous details. My daughter is fascinated by Papa Shark’s moustache and I love Mama Shark’s bubbly hairdo. As the games continue various ocean creatures join them including crabs, turtles and a large octopus. There’s a fantastically, bubbly mess in the bathroom but the sharks and the octopus are polite enough to help Dulcie clean up before they leave. My daughter wanted to know how the sharks got into the bathroom and the stunning endpapers show beautiful ocean scenes with a pipe leading up to the house.
This is a really great story to read aloud and makes us laugh. I can’t wait to read it to a group of children.
Quote from my five year old – ‘But Daddy Sharks don’t have moustaches.’
Age Range: 3 +
Author / Illustrator: Sarah McIntyre
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