Our Featured Middle Grade Book this month is the beautiful and emotive Julia and the Shark by Kiran Millwood Hargrave.
This captivating story about a mother, a daughter and their search for the Greenland shark, is brought to life with stunning black and yellow illustrations by Tom de Freston
Julia and her parents are living on a remote island for the summer and her mother is on a mission to find the elusive Greenland shark. But it soon becomes clear that her mother's obsession with the shark is not healthy and threatens to take over everything. Julia's adventure to find the shark becomes one to find hope, and to save her mother.
Julia and the Shark is recommended for for ages 9+ due to themes of grief, suicide and mental health issues, which are all handled sensitively and with grace. Fans of Philip Pullman, Sally Gardner and Frances Hardinge will love the story.
You can read an extract of the book here.
And read on to hear the authors introduce the book and to discover what our readers thought too.
Watch Kiran and Tom telling us more about the book in a Q&A where they talk about what it's like to work together, why they chose to tell this story, what the illustrations bring to the book and more.
The hardback of Julia and the Shark was loved by kids, teachers and adult readers too - check out some of our readers' wonderful reviews.
"I thought this book was one of the best books I have ever read! It had beautiful see through pages with stunning art on!"
Islareading, aged 9
"Amazing! From the first few chapters, you can tell its a good book. The ending is definitely not what you think it would be."
ALEX1S, aged 9
"The more I read the more I had to read - it was quite honestly an addictive read... The illustrations are outstanding- whole page spreads that pull you in to the depths of the ocean and place you vividly in to the dreams (nightmares) of Julia."
Mrs D271015
"Captivating and magical from first word to last"
I_teach_muggles
" 'Julia and the Shark’ took me to dark places and took me back out again so compassionately. I will treasure this book and never let it go."
SalB
"Julia and the Shark is a stunning hardback book which completely captured and mesmerised me from start to finish. The black, white and yellow illustrations are superb and complement the story perfectly, capturing both Julia's loneliness and hopefulness."
BookCraic
Julia and the Shark
A captivating, powerful and luminous story from a bestselling, award-winning author about a mother, a daughter and the great Greenland shark.
The shark was beneath my bed, growing large as the room, large as the lighthouse, rising from unfathomable depths until it ripped the whole island from its roots. The bed was a boat, the shark a tide, and it pulled me so far out to sea I was only a speck, a spot, a mote, a dying star in an unending sky...
Julia has followed her mum and dad to live on a remote island for the summer - her dad, for work; her mother, on a determined mission to find the elusive Greenland shark. But when her mother's obsession threatens to submerge them all, Julia finds herself on an adventure with dark depths and a lighthouse full of hope...
A beautiful, lyrical, uplifting story about a mother, a daughter, and love - with timely themes of the importance of science and the environment.
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