Book Review & #Giveaway : Surf Sharks - The First Ride

There’s a new kids action-comedy entertainment brand on the scene, all from the imagination of Chance Wolf, an industry-recognized comic book artist and toy designer.

Fully created and illustrated by Wolf, Surf Sharks follows the comedy adventures of a group of young surfers and sharks who forge a friendship and ride the waves together as they help each other solve daily challenges faced by all growing kids.

First book in the series, Surf Sharks: The First Ride is now available in all major book stores and online via Amazon Kindle and iTunes/iBooks in eBook version.  The debut book introduces the surfing sharks – MAVRIK, TALON and HEMI along with their surfer dude friends, RIP, OZZY and WADE as they find that by working together, they can take on even the biggest problems.

Chance brings over 30 years experience as a commercial artist with high-profile credits in comic books that encompass Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Spawn and Shadowhawk.  He also received an Emmy Certificate for his work as a main character designer for the Emmy Award Winning HBO animated series SPAWN and worked in product design for McFarlane Toys’ bestselling X-Files collectibles line. 

With the tremendous popularity surrounding Sharks, Surf Sharks is a natural for today’s kids.  In fact, Google Trends reports that sharks now holds the #1 spot for animal search terms, not to mention the major success of such shark-themed films and television programming as Sharknado and Mega Shark vs. Giant Octopus and Discovery’s ubiquitous Shark Weeks.

Born in 1963 and raised in Eastern Washington, Chance showed a passion for art from the time he could hold a pencil.  As a child, he devoted much of his time nose-deep into comic books admiring the art and mimicking it the best he could on any piece of paper available (including his homework).  Selling his first piece of art at age 11 was a clear indicator of a prospering career as an Illustrator that has now spanned over three decades.

As a young adult, his desire to grow as an artist motivated him to focus on his drawing skills as he hit the drawing board to hone his childhood comic book passion.  His path towards becoming a professional comic book artist began when his talents were discovered by an associate of iconic industry creative Todd McFarlane.  Chance began a tenure with McFarlane that would span over ten years, allowing the new artist to work on internationally recognized comic book titles such as Shadowhawk, Spawn and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles just to name a few.

Chance worked side by side with Todd, assisting in drawing the number one selling comic book Spawn and was called upon to join with a team of artists to handle the task of Main Character Designers for the HBO Emmy Award winning Animated Series Spawn, in which Chance received and Emmy Certificate acknowledging his work on the series.  Chance became Todd’s right hand man on numerous assignments, including toy action figure art direction, designs for licensees and convention booth creation.  Chance was hand-picked by Todd to visit with X-Files creator Chris Carter in Hollywood in order to help finalize designs for McFarlane’s popular X-Files toy line.

Observing his son’s fascination with sharks, Chance was inspired to create Surf Sharks, which he has launched as a book series, with the first release Surf Sharks: The First Ride now available in all leading book stores in hard cover and online as an eBook via Amazon Kindle and iTunes/iBooks.

For more details or visit www.surfsharks.com or www.facebook.com/surfsharks.

 My Thoughts

 My son is a total beach bum who loves to surf, so this was a great book for him. In the story, three kids befriend a trio of sharks after saving them from fishing nets. When the tables are turned and the kids loose their boards, the sharks come to the rescue and a lasting friendship forms.The solution is to use the sharks as boards and together they set out to enter the surfing competition, but not before the kids give them a bit of a makeover.

This story is interesting and fast paced. The bright illustrations are vivid and lifelike, from the shark's town under the sea to the vivid beach scenes. The artist really knows how to work with colors. My son adored the book and has read it several times. It's a great book for kids who are too advanced for  basic picture books but not quite ready for chapter books. There are two or three paragraphs each page, so it gives them something to read without overwhelming them. Perfect for pages 7-10 or around that range. My son is looking forward to reading additional books in this series.

The Giveaway

One lucky winner is gong to receive a cool Surf Sharks Prize Pack that includes:
 
- A copy of Surf Sharks: The First Ride
- A sticker book
- 32 Surf Shark stickers with fun shark facts on the back

and
- A set of pop-up collector cards

To enter, just fill in the Giveaway Tools form below.  This giveaway will end on  5/30/14. Open to the US only. The winner will be notified via email and will have 48 hours to reply. Thanks again to the author for offering this fantastic prize.

Entry-Form