Bruce's recent Monstertown Mysteries series blends horror and humor, based on his childhood love of monster movies. His other series include Class Pets, about the secret lives of classroom pets, and the forthcoming Outerspace Mystery Pizza Club books, due in 2024. Clark the Shark was a VERY enthusiastic pupil at Theodore Roosterfish Elementary School. In fact, he was the most enthusiastic pupil in Mrs. Inkydink's class. Unfortunately, although he always meant well, his hyperactivity and thoughtlessness often resulted in the other pupils avoiding him at lunchtime and recess. His teacher knew not to give up on him, however, and slowly Clark learned to control himself enough that others wanted to be around him. Clark the Shark is throwing his first slumber party. There's just one problem--he's afraid of the dark! Clark makes a rhyme to help him through the night. When he realizes all of his friends are scared, too, they make up a song to help them feel better. This could then lead on to some written activities like making up their own rhymes, including illustrations. They could do this either independently, in pairs or in groups. This book could be for any age group. The book contains an important theme of friendship and facing your fears. The book contains colorful illustrations along with a sweet story that contains onomatopoeia and rhyming.

The character Clark is having his first sleepover, and him and all his friends are going to sleep outside in the dark. Clark is afraid of the dark, but to help him face his fear he creates a rhyme for himself- "Take heart, be smart, sharks aren't afraid of the dark". Clark and his friends realize that it's okay to have fears, and they get through their fears through creating a rhyme together. Clark the Shark" has brightly colored watercolor illustrations that depict a shark's struggle with being himself while at school. Clark even says, "Loved everything too much...too much shark." When his teacher realized Clark was upset, she approached him and reminded him, "There's a time and place for everything.....the rule is to stay cool." Once Clark realized that rhymes might help him remember the rules for school, "Maybe if I make a rhyme, I will remember every time." After Clark worked on several different rhymes for the rules, he remembered them all fairly well. Things were getting better and then everyone was afraid of the new kid, Sid the squid. Clark made sure that the other students welcomed him, "He just wants to play. Let's find a way!" Clark makes up a new game and the Sid settles down. Clark reminds him, "If you want to come to school, you've got to stay cool." Clark learns to calm his own excitement enough to be able to help the new student. He is happy to have helped and continues to remember his rhymes to keep him cool all the time. Henry Newman from Clore Tikva Primary School, in Ilford, co-wrote ‘Lark the Shark’ with his mum Natalie, after being inspired by his school homework about pollution. I really like this book and its message. It teaches children about self control and manners. I think the illustrations where done really well and I really enjoyed the rhythms that Clark came up with in the book.Clark the Shark is such a catchy name! My nephew started saying it just looking at the cover. The illustrations were perfect for the story and well framed. We easily found a spread for my nephew to draw (the one where they are laying out in their sleeping bags). I didn't like the type face used inside the book - it was hard to read and didn't fit the style pf the art. In fact it ruined the art at times... Clark is a shark with zing, bang, and BOOM! Well-meaning and enthusiastic, he doesn’t intend to land in trouble, but he so often does. Follow Clark as he learns about sharing, and crushes, and how to act in class. Get tips and advice on reducing, re-using and recycling to help protect the environment: https://www.redbridge.gov.uk/our-streets/ Clark the Shark makes a plan to have his first sleepover outside with friends. However, he is afraid to sleep in the dark. When he honestly accepts his fear and confesses the fact that he is afraid of the dark, his friends agree with him and support each other.

I enjoyed reading this book. The rhyming used by the author was fun and the illustrations helped to enhance the story.There's also some great word play with nonsense words like "upsy-downsy", "spinna-ma-jig" and "tail-whump-a-lumpus". These words are very exciting for kids and encourage word-play that can be very good for language development.

The major themes in this story are overcoming your fears and friendship. Clark was very afraid of the dark but thought of ways that would help him get through the night without his night light, and he did it! But he couldn't have done it without the help of his friends. He was nervous that they would make fun of him for being scared of the dark, but instead they all came together and helped each other overcome their fears, which is what true friendship is all about. When Clark the Shark discovers that rhymes help him "Stay cool", he gives many examples like "When teacher's talking, don't go walking" and "Only munch your own lunch". These fun little sayings could be used to teach students about rhyming and help them come up with their own rhymes!Clark the Shark" by Bruce Hale is about a young shark who LOVES school. He gets so excited in class jumps up and down in his seat, he smells all the good food at lunch and ends up eating it all at once, and he plays so hard at recess that he sometimes breaks toys. After a while, Clark's friends don't want to sit near him, eat lunch with him, or even play with him. When a discouraged Clark asks his teacher what to do, Mrs. Inkydink says that "There's a time and place for everything" and that Clark needs to remember to "Stay cool". Clark eventually figures out different rhymes that help him calm down while at school. At the end of the day, a new student comes to class. This student is even bigger than Clark and plays even harder. Clark plays with the new student as hard as he can and then teaches him how to "Stay cool". Clark is a shark with zing, bang, and BOOM. Clark zooms into school, crashes through the classroom, and is rowdy at recess. Clark loves life—but when his enthusiasm is too much for his friends, Clark's teacher, Mrs. Inkydink, helps him figure out a way to tone it down. This would be a great story for a teacher to share with his/her class, as a way of introduction to the school year. It is relevant to pupils, being set in a school, with regular routines of lessons and lunchtime. It is a good example of what rules and behaviour can be expected when at school such as using indoor voices appropriately, to respecting other pupils and their friendships. As well as classroom rules and feelings, a teacher upon reading this book, might what to pause to pose questions about characterisation, illustrations and other elements key to their learning such as whether Clark was being a good friend? How did he try to behave himself eventually? As Clark tried to control himself using rhyme, this could lead pupils onto the identification of rhymes throughout the story: I can relate to this book because I too was scared of the dark when I was young. I always had my night light and was scared to sleep without it. Sometime during the night I would wake up and be scared and even run and jump into bed with my mom and dad. But just like Clark, I eventually overcame my fear.