I Survived the Shark Attacks of 1916 (I Survived Series #2)

by Lauren Tarshis

Overview

Based on true events! It's the summer of 1916 and the Jersey shore is being terrorized by a Great White shark. Can 10-year-old Chet and his friends survive a swim in the local creek?

In the summer of 1916, ten year-old Chet Roscow is captivated by the local news: a Great White shark has been attacking and killing people up and down the Atlantic Coast, not far from Chet's hometown of Springfield, New Jersey.

Then one day, swimming with his friends, Chet sees something in the water. . .

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780545206952
Publisher:	Scholastic, Inc.
Publication date:	09/01/2010
Series:	I Survived Series
Pages:	112
Sales rank:	2,610
Product dimensions:	5.20(w) x 7.40(h) x 0.40(d)
Lexile:	610L (what's this?)
Age Range:	7 - 10 Years

About the Author

Lauren Tarshis is the editor of Scholastic’s Storyworks magazine and group editorial director for language arts for Scholastic classroom magazines, in addition to being the author of the I Survived series and the critically acclaimed novels Emma-Jean Lazarus Fell Out of a Tree and Emma-Jean Lazarus Fell in Love. She lives in Westport, Connecticut, and can be found online at www.laurentarshis.com.

Editorial Reviews

Ten-year-old Chet is swimming in a creek when he sees a shark swimming towards him. This exciting beginning leads to other dangerous adventures regarding a mysterious killer shark in this fictionalized account of the true story. It is 1916, and Chet is staying with his Uncle Jerry in New Jersey for the summer while his parents are away. He helps his uncle in the diner. After the opening scene, the story flashes back to nine days earlier when his friends show him an article about a shark that attacked and killed someone in New Jersey waters. His Uncle Jerry refuses to believe it, but Captain Wilson, a former whaling ship captain, believes that it happened and he tells his own story about how he fought off a shark that had attacked him. Chet and his friends swim at the creek, and they fool Chet about a shark attacking them. Chet plays a trick on them, and the boys get mad because Chet's trick about being bloodied by a shark terrifies them. When Chet actually does have an encounter with a shark, they don't believe him. In another series of events, Chet gets bitten seriously by the shark, but at the end, he is on his way to recovery and is reunited with his parents and friends. Several pages at the end explain the actual events as they happened in 1916. This story will keep the reader's interest, but it does have its share of violence. The book is one of the "I Survived" series. Reviewer: Vicki Foote

Children's Literature - Vicki Foote

Gr 3–7—An absorbing story based on the shark attacks in New Jersey in 1916. Chet Roscoe, 10, moves in with his uncle while his father looks for work in California. He works in his uncle's diner and meets some local boys with whom he becomes friends. A story hits the papers about a shark attack about 10 miles away and their little town dismisses it as a fake, but a local fisherman begs to differ. The boys play a series of pranks on one another, but when Chet comes face to face with the shark in the river, the friends refuse to believe him, until they see it themselves. Black-and-white illustrations that resemble old photographs enhance the events of the story. Tarshis incorporates information about the real attacks and fictionalizes it, then follows the story with facts about the attacks and sharks. This is a gripping story that will hold the interest of reluctant readers.—Delia Carruthers, Roxbury Public Library, Succasunna, NJ

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