Ariki and the Giant Shark

Name: William Joseph
Price range: $

by Nicola Davies, illustrated by Nicola Kinnear

Interest age: 7 to 11
Reading age: 8+

Published by Walker Books, 2018

Adventure
Around the world
Chapter books

About this book

Ariki lives on Turtle Island and spends her free time playing in the ocean. Life on the island isn’t perfect though. She’s teased by other island children for being different. She is not getting on with her guardian either, who is the island's respected Star Gazer.

When a local fishing boat is threatened by a huge shark, the island's queen is convinced the creature means the islanders harm and wants to destroy the island. However, Ariki discovers the truth about the rare shark – it needs their help. While Ariki races to prevent the queen waging a war against nature, she discovers she has unique powers which may just save the day.

An adventure story about friendship, families and being different, this exciting plot will keep children hooked. The vivid descriptions of marine life will transport readers straight into the sea with Ariki – no doubt, the result of Nicola Davies’ zoologist background. Ariki is a strong and independent heroine; a perfect role model for children everywhere.

This book is also a lovely introduction to island life and nature-centred cultures. It could help readers consider how different life can be for children around the world.

About the author

Nicola Davies is the author of more than 50 books for children: fiction, non-fiction and poetry. Her work has been published in more than 10 different languages and has won major awards in the UK, US, France, Italy and Germany.

Nicola trained as a zoologist, taking a degree in Natural Sciences from King's College, Cambridge. She spent some years as a field biologist and studied humpback and sperm whales, and bats, before joining the BBC Natural History Unit as a researcher and then presenter.

Following the start of her writing career, Nicola became a senior lecturer in creative writing, at Bath Spa University but has been writing full time for over a decade. She now regularly runs workshops for children and adults to help them find their voices as writers and advocates for nature. In 2017, she was the first recipient of the SLA’s award for Outstanding Contribution to Children’s Non-fiction and in 2018 had four picture books longlisted for the Greenaway Award.

Find out what Nicola Davies is up to as our Writer in Residence

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