Neighborhood Sharks

Hunting with the Great Whites of California’s Farallon Islands

Book cover with the title Neighborhood Sharks: Hunting with the Great Whites of California's Farallon Islands in large white text that features a painting of a shark with a seal carcass in its mouth as it swims through the water.

Every September the great white sharks return to San Francisco. While their 800,000 human neighbors dine on steak, salad, and sandwiches, the white sharks hunt for their favorite meal...

We both fear and admire great white sharks' fierce hunting skills. But how exactly do they track down their prey? Award-winning author-illustrator Katherine Roy's Neighborhood Sharks dives into their hunting grounds in the Farallon Islands, just 30 miles from the Golden Gate Bridge. Based on the latest information and abounding with fascinating glimpses into a great white's life and habits, Neighborhood Sharks will astound young shark fans and their parents alike.

Roaring Brook / David Macaulay Studio, September 30, 2014. Age 7+

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Critical Praise for Neighborhood Sharks

  • Drama and intrigue infuse Roy’s study of migrating great white sharks. Each year, the sharks return to San Francisco: “While their 800,000 human neighbors dine on steak, salad, and sandwiches, the white sharks hunt for their favorite meal.” With violence and wild beauty, one of Roy’s sharks attacks a local elephant seal, sending forth a bubbling gush of blood. Elsewhere, Roy playfully compares the characteristics of a shark’s body to those of a jet plane, and cutaway images display a shark’s internal anatomy. Roy’s reverence for her subject is evident in her majestic underwater scenes, while light humor and rich content round out a standout resource for shark enthusiasts. ✭

    — Publisher’s Weekly (starred review)

  • Look closely at the cover of this impressive account of great white sharks off the Northern California coast: that bright red in the illustration is blood trailing from a chunk of freshly killed immature elephant seal – and a signal that Roy’s book will fully examine the sometimes chilling, always fascinating details of what makes this animal a predator. ✭

    — The Horn Book (starred review)

  • For this debut picture book, the author joined researchers who tag and follow these sharks, and she’s distilled their findings in a way that’s sure to attract young readers… Full of the eww factor, up-to-date facts and kid appeal, this splendid, gory introduction is not for the faint of heart! ✭

    — Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

  • The action-packed illustrations, rendered in watercolor and pencil with some digital work, are both accurate and captivating. Pair this one with Gail Gibbons’s Sharks (Holiday House, 1992) or Seymour Simon’s Incredible Sharks (Chronicle, 2003). ✭

    — School Library Journal (starred review)

  • With so many sharks of the tech-boom variety circling San Francisco these days, it’s easy to look past the great whites that return to the city’s shores every fall, hunting incessantly for prey. Roy’s appropriately amped-up narration scrutinizes every part of the shark’s killing-optimized boy, then roams the central California coast, exploring the ecosystem in which they top the food chain. Some brave scientists make a cameo, luring the sharks to the surface to photograph and tag them. The book’s watercolor illustration jump out with a fierce beauty; there’s plenty of blood in the water, of course.

    — The New York Times Book Review

  • The book is called “Neighborhood Sharks” for a reason. When we think of big predators we think of remote locations. We don’t think of them swimming along, so very close to places like the Golden Gate Bridge. Plenty of adults would be horrified by the notion that they might run into an unexpected shark somewhere. Kids, however, might see the prospect as exciting.Neighborhood Sharks has the potential to both satisfy those kids that have already read every single book on sharks in their local library and also convert those that haven’t already made sharks their favorite predator of all time. Remarkably beautiful even (or especially) in the face of straightforward shark attacks, this is a book that sets itself apart from the pack. If you read only one children’s shark book in all your livelong days, read this one. Disgusting. Delicious. Delightful.

    — Betsy Bird, School Library Journal

“Did [our librarian] tell you that two kindergartners spent the very next free period they had after your talk starting their own books about animals? And that the demand for your books during library post-visit could be heard from space???? Your presentation is truly special and inspirational (and not just for the kids!)”
— Dana, School District Librarian, Oregon

Author Visits with Neighborhood Sharks

Author Katherine Roy posing with a group of elementary school students with their hands raised in the air.
Painting by Katherine Roy of a great white shark biting the carcass of a seal as bright red blood clouds the water.
Painting by Katherine Roy of the dorsal fin of a great white shark as it thrashes through waves of red water.
Painting by Katherine Roy of a seal silhouette on the surface of the water from a great white shark's point of view below.