The House at Sugar Beach
Rating: The House at Sugar Beach: In Search of a Lost African Childhood, by Helene Cooper. Simon & Schuster (2008), 351 pages. Liberia was founded in 1822 by freed American slaves. It was an experiment of sorts, funded by white Americans who foresaw...
Little Bee
Rating: Little Bee, by Chris Cleave. Simon Schuster (2009), 288 pages. Little Bee is a fourteen-year-old girl from Nigeria who is living in England in a detention center for illegal immigrants. She shares the narration of this novel with a woman named...
The Book Thief
(This review first appeared in February 2007) Rating: The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak. Knopf (2006), 552 pages. This is the story of a German girl living in a foster family in a working-class town in Germany during World War II. Such a setting encompasses,...
The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane
(This review first appeared in March 2007) Rating: The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane,by Kate DiCamillo.Candlewick Press (2006), 198 pages. This is the rare children’s book that works just as well for adults as it does for children. It is also...About Us
The Book Shark began as an independent book review website created by Cindy Pinto and Donna Long in 2002.
From the beginning our goal was not only to write great reviews, but also to recognize the most well-written books we read each year with an award...
Gustine Awards
The Gustine Awards were named in honor of the main character in one of our favorite books—The Dress Lodger, by Sheri Holman. Awards have been given out yearly since 2002 in three categories: fiction, nonfiction, and memoir...
Cover Art
A book’s cover is as important as the writing within it. We are aware that this may offend some authors who have toiled for years on their books and believe their words are the only thing that matters...
Reader Reviews
What’s the best or worst book you’ve ever read? What’s the most recent book that you’ve had a strong reaction to? Send us your thoughts, and we’ll post them in this spot.