Synopsis: Terrifying man-eating monsters or misunderstood creatures, persecuted by human? Make up your own mind with Terry Deary’s Shark Stories – eight terrifying true tales of suspense, danger and courage, including real-life Jaws and the shark that saved lives. Sometimes fact can be stranger than fiction …

Review: First published in 1995 and now re-issued under the banner: ‘from the author of Horrible Histories’, this book is one of several thematic collections of ‘terribly true’ tales. Deary recounts eight incidents from a range of countries and historical periods, interspersing them with fact-file information about shark species, biology and myth. The stories themselves offer excellent models for short fiction writing: clear and concise, mingling excitement, suspense, dialogue and humour, employing both third- and first-person narrators, and a variety of narrative structures. Nor are the stories too ‘same-y’, a mere litany of gory blood baths. Rather, Deary juxtaposes accounts of vicious attacks alongside tales of sharks solving crimes, saving the shipwrecked, even being murdered themselves.

Moreover, in true Deary style, many of the stories are as much explorations of the human condition as ‘shark stories’ per se. Deary’s characters are concisely but engagingly drawn, demonstrating both the best and the worst of human nature; examples of extraordinary courage, perseverance and self-sacrificing love stand alongside deceit, self-interest and cold-blooded murder. As the book’s epilogue asks: is it ultimately sharks or human beings that are the really callous killers? The result is a thought-provoking collection of stories, which challenges the reader’s assumptions and could stimulate interesting discussion with children from Y5 upwards.

The bite-sized nature of the collection (no pun intended!), might also appeal to reluctant readers, or those with a preference for non-fiction.

2007-07-01