Never Touch a Shark

Never Touch series

by Make Believe Ideas

A tactile touch-and-feel book all about sharks.

You must never touch a shark . . . unless it's in this book! This ocean-themed touch-and-feel board book is great for children of all ages and fits perfectly into tiny hands. Kids will love reading the silly rhymes that warn the dangers of touching the animals--and then ignoring the advice!

Children of all ages, 0 and up, will enjoy:


The innovative and engaging silicone touch-and-feel features on every spread
The bright and vibrant illustrations
The silly and easy-to-read rhymes that involve the fun ocean creatures
Receiving this fun book as a birthday gift, stocking stuffer, Easter basket goody, road trip activity, or just because
Parents and their little ones will enjoy reading aloud Never Touch a Shark again and again.

If your child enjoys Never Touch a Shark, check out the rest of the Never Touch … series Never Touch a Polar Bear, Never Touch a Porcupine, Never Touch a Spider, Never Touch a Dinosaur, Never Touch a Dragon, Never Touch a Monster, and Never Touch a Tiger.

Genres: Childrens, Picture Books, Animals, Kids

12 pages, Board book

Published January 1, 2019

About the author

We bring amazing-quality books to families around the world at an accessible price point.

Established in 2004, Make Believe Ideas has been creating exciting children’s books for over fifteen years. Growing in size and expertise every year, we publish into a multitude of languages and foster relationships with incredible collaborators around the world.

Our books are translated into over 40 languages!

Innovators in the market!
Our team are immensely passionate about producing books that enhance family reading experiences and pride ourselves on being leading innovators in the market. We focus less on what has been done before, and more on pioneering new ideas that children will love. Many of our best-selling titles were the first of their kind and totally unique at the time of their publication.

But this is only the beginning of our wonderful story… be a part of the next chapter by browsing our products online, finding our books in store and interacting with us on social media. Let us know what your most-loved Make Believe book is, and how we could make story time even better for you. We love connecting with our readers and keep them at the heart of everything we do.

Reviews

[karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

catching up on reviewing last year's sharkweek reads!!

i read this to celebrate shark week 2020, but sharkfans NB: while the title promises sharks, there is only ONE page of shark content:



and i'm a bit apprehensive about this message—seems to me a shark clever enough to bake would also be clever enough to bait, and this singsongy jingle might be masking a very clever trap.

this is a overall pretty mixed-messagey sort of book—cautioning readers against touching a variety of sea beasties while inviting tactile engagement with the rubbery inserts planted right on the tummies of the creature in question. are people reading this book to toddlers meant to slap away the tiny hands of toddlers from exploring the ridges and nubbles on each page, saying "NOOOOOOOO, you must NEVER touch a shark," or whatever? is this just teaching kids to question authority? to disobey? that 'no' means 'go ahead?'



the material is the same on every page, but its color and composition is different on every creature. can you identify the aquatic pal based on this rubbery cereal/skin disease?





RUIN your DAY? harsh. this guy's day doesn't look one bit ruined:



also, a missed opportunity to use a card shark pun, but i guess they're better known for their baking.

in any case, apart from the giant shark, most of these animals are perfectly harmless to touch.





although maybe stay away from this hangry turt:



and this amorous hugger:



but a pufferfish?



go right ahead, whether it's in smooth mode, wagging its tail like a pupperfish:



or all oi punk rock:



however, this advice is sound:

you must never touch a seahorse/it's not a good idea/but if she's in a swimming race/then you can wave and cheer

because human-touches are not safe for the delicate seahorse.



in conclusion, i am confused about the conclusion:

So, never touch a sea creature who isn't in this rhyme. But if it's in a buoy band, you can join in every time!

who ISN'T in this rhyme? because we just went through pages of book-bossery about how we're not supposed to touch the featured-creatures, but following this logic, excising the negative word/negative verb:

So, never touch a sea creature who isn't in this rhyme.

undermines the entire premise of the book, non? or can we not touch ANY undersea creature? what kind of life is that, i ask you?



although, i read this in the middle of a pandemic, where encouraging those sticky little superspreaders to touch anything was wildly irresponsible, but it's all over now, right? we're totally safe from—



ew. wear a mask!

come to my blog!

[Joey Cremeans · Rating 5 out of 5]

Instructions unclear. My daughter immediately touched the shark….

EDIT: She and the shark are unharmed.

[Ashley · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like these touch books because I like the quality of the touchable areas and because my kids adore touching the animals they shouldn’t (after all, how often do you get to do the exact thing your parents are telling you not to do AND not get in trouble?), but I am also confused on why a book would encourage kids to do things they’re told not to do in the first place. That said, it’s catchy and I chose to buy the book knowing what it was about.

Only other thing was the idea/cheer rhyme. I can only assume idea is pronounced ‘idear’ where the author is from?

[Reene's Library · Rating 5 out of 5]

We were given this book by our friends Gina and Jen.

This is such a beautiful book, It's showing some of the beautiful animals we have in our ocean.

My baby girl Phoebe loves these types of books, especially because they have all these large animals and with different types of materials she just can't stop touching them and laughing.

We ended up reading this book a couple times because she just couldn't get enough of bright coloured animals and all the materials to the animals.
It's a great win for us.

Never touch a Shark 🦈
By: Clair le Chabot

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5

#readingwithmybabygirl👧🏻❤️ #childrenbooks #readingtime #books #reading #bookreader

[Jess Martin · Rating 3 out of 5]

The writing is mediocre and the plot is weak, but the tactile elements of the book are very well done and fun.

[Claire · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love the feel of the book, Logan was a fan, fully attentive!

[Kristyn Diggins · Rating 2 out of 5]

idea and cheer do not rhyme and it drives me crazy that I have to read this non-rhyme over and over with my kid

[Kylee May Roach · Rating 3 out of 5]

The seahorse page doesn’t rhyme.

[Melody · Rating 4 out of 5]

My kids like this one but shark is only the first page so that's disappointing.

[Mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

My daughter and I went to Barnes & Noble at the end of summer, to turn in her summer reading sheet and pick out her free book as a reward. While there, they were having story time and featured this book. At the time, I didn't have the ten dollars the store wanted, but I did find it on Amazon for $6.99, and tucked it away for a surprise gift.

My daughters are both very sensory oriented and love this book. Each page has a different rubbery texture in a different pattern to run your fingers over. The rhymes are cute and so are the illustrations. Lots of fun!

[Mavis’s Dad · Rating 2 out of 5]

We’ve entered our touch and feel books era. This preposterous page-turner has a “duh title” and then proceeds to encourage children to touch the shark - in the teeth no less.

Moral: Don’t touch sea creatures, even if the publisher encourages you to with every rubber insert.

Length: Pathetically short at just four pages. We had to read it three times just to fill a few minutes of entertainment.

Favorite Line: “You must never touch an octopus - it might ruin your day. But if it has a pack of cards, it’s fine for you to play.”

Overall impression: This book is dumb. First, it encourages kids to touch sharks. Then, it encourages kids to play cards with an octopus. He has eight tentacles! That guy is destined to cheat, even if you’re not doing poker night and playing Go Fish instead. Then there’s the turtle in a band with some crusty looking crustaceans. All of these sea creatures feel the same, so that’s even less exciting than the words. Go touch something in real life with your young one (with permission of course).

[Roger · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I first saw this book, I was attracted to the colors and texture on the cover. Then I disliked the idea of reading it to a baby and saying “Never touch this,” “Never touch that,” etc. I’d worry about stunting their curiosity and/or their willingness to try new things.
But of course, that’s what the book encourages. It says “don’t touch this animal” and makes it irresistible. So subversive. I loved it and bought it for my favorite 1-year-old.

[Megan · Rating 3 out of 5]

M found the shelf where all of these are held at our library today, so we read through a bunch of them.

It should be noted that any "touch and feel" book involving white surfaces will quickly become...gross looking. Also there's a rhyme about "bouy bands" which may be a positive or a negative, depending on your perspective.

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my favorite "never touch" book (my kids, too!). The other two I've read are don't touch because they're mean/dangerous, this one is don't touch and then silly fun games. My criticism of the others is shallow, but the comparison i think makes this one look better. It is probably in my top 5 favorite children's books.

[Elliotte · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is super cute, I'll give it that but my daughter doesn't really care about this one as much as her other touch and feel books. I can understand why though. It's all rubber and not a massive difference in texture. Once she touched one, she's pretty much done with it.

[James · Rating 3 out of 5]

Love the series, but this isn’t my favorite one. Pufferfish is good. So is the buoy band. But the rhymes aren’t the best and the textures could be better. Still solid book on a 3 book night. On a 2 book night it would leave you wanting a little more.

[Michelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cute illustrations and I love the touch areas. Kids would be very interested in exploring them. I had a thought to put paper over them and see the design in different colors. It's fun to hold onto creativity no matter what we go through in life.

[Megan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Textures are probably my favorite out of all the 'never touch a...' series.

[Liz De Coster · Rating 3 out of 5]

The seahorse rhyme isn’t great, and it doesn’t seem these textures are as popular with her as some of the others.

[Jessica Caldwell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Millie's favorite book series! Age 1-2

[Cathie Stumpenhaus · Rating 4 out of 5]

Funny rhymes and delightful textures to experience for each sea creature 😄

[Viviane Elbee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute board book with textures to touch on each page, despite rhymes saying not to touch the sea creatures. Good for babies & young toddlers with thick cardboard pages.

[Elizabeth]

The book was going okay until they tried to rhyme 'idea' with 'cheer.' Perhaps the author doesn't realize that these two words don't rhyme?

[Lil Old Bookworm · Rating 5 out of 5]

My daughter loves these series of books. The colors are bright, and the book has touchable parts on each page that she enjoys feeling and keeps her interest. The story is cute too.

[Tans Anderson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Never Touch A Shark, is a fun and colorful ocean-themed sensory book! Children can touch and feel the pages of this board book without damaging it.

[Aurora · Rating 4 out of 5]

Touch surfaces aren’t as good in this one.

[Cherish Brown · Rating 5 out of 5]

(5☆ Would recommend & would read again)
My son loves this book. It has very colorful pictures that are engaging. And the tactile aspect of the book helps kids to engage more into the book.

[Rich Farrell · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is another book in the series that was gifted to us and that E. loves.

[Kristen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting, strange, and cute.

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my son's favorite book because he loves sharks at the moment. He loves to touch all the different textures on all the pages