Shark Princess
by Nidhi Chanani; illus. by the author; color by Elizabeth Kramer
Primary    Viking    80 pp.
9/22    9780593464601    $12.99
e-book ed.  9780593464618    $7.99

This first installment in Chanani’s comics series introduces sharks Kitana and Mack, best friends enjoying an undersea day together. When Kitana declares herself Shark Princess, Mack is confused (“What’s a princess? And why do you want to be one?”), but he plays along after Kitana agrees to explore a shipwreck with him. While poking around the wreckage, they find a crown, and Kitana encourages Mack to declare himself a princess, too. Chanani keeps a tight focus on her characters in each of her panel illustrations, giving just enough detail in the backgrounds to establish setting and movement. She has a lot of fun with language, tossing in puns (“she shore would”) and coining fishy lingo (“somefish”) for the early-chapter-book crowd. Mack isn’t sure he has what it takes to be a princess—that is until the duo stirs up some trouble, Kitana sustains a minor injury, and Mack saves the day. The story is gentle, but the theme—each of us gets to decide what to label ourselves—is deep.

From the January/February 2023 issue of The Horn Book Magazine.