Shark Girl by Kelly Bingham

Shark Girl
Kelly Bingham

Overview
When Jane Arrowood finds herself wrestling with a shark, she loses more than just an arm. She’s confused and devastated. Why did this happen to her? Why didn’t she stop to help the lady with the food tray and kids? If only she had waiting five more minutes before entering the water, maybe all of this could have been avoided. Jane blames herself, wondering why and wishing she could re-do that day at the beach. Now she’s got just a few weeks of summer left before she’s plunged back into society and whispers with her latest, not so fashionable accessory.


Review
Honestly, I was never planning on picking up this book. I was almost 100percent sure I wasn’t going to like and I really didn’t want to try. The only reason I did pick it up was because I felt an oath to reading it after randomly using it for the “Apocalypse Mad Libs” session in Sarah Ockler’s Flip It Friday. But nonetheless, I picked it up and was unable to put it down.

Shark Girl was an awesome recovery-type novel. After the shark attack, Jane Arrowood gets soo many flowers, letters, and cards from so many random people, you’d think she’d actually died and came back to life. I loved her character and how skeptical she was. She hated those flowers and the stupid letters. She hated feeling like a charity case, but most of all, she hated that she didn’t have her arm anymore. Jane grew soo much throughout the book though. With the help of her brother, and friend Justin, she soon learns to accept that she no longer has her arm, and there’s nothing she can do about it. Along with this acceptance, she begins to start doing things on her own. I liked how she did them for herself, and not for others, although she needed their encouragement. She even gets back into drawing. Before she knows it, she realizes that her left hand is her best hand.

I loved the format of Shark Girl, or really, the lack of paragraph form. It was just so laid back, another reason I was so much attracted to the book once I started it. Kelly unfolded Jane’s story with a series of poems, letters, phone calls, and newspaper clippings. They were all so raw and realistic, I had no doubt of such and event ever unfolding in this was.

Oh yea, and Justin was a pretty cool character. I loved that he played such an important role in Jane’s life and that he was also so young. Kudos to you Justin.