ALA Booklist

The jacket photo, a gruesome close-up of an open-mouthed shark, sets the tone for this riveting adaptation of Capuzzo's similarly titled adult book about what occurred when, in 1916, a rogue shark traveled inland along a New Jersey creek, terrorizing residents of nearby towns. Extensive trimming has eliminated much about the individuals most involved in what happened, which occasionally makes for some confusion. But this book has a rich assortment of photos and news clippings not in the original, and the vividness and sheer physicality of Capuzzo's writing remains intact. In many ways this is a new book. Capuzzo reconstructs events with a novelist's flair and a scientist's attention to detail, and his pacing is relentless as the story moves from cultural history and shark physiology to close-ups of the crazed, disoriented beast slicing through the water. When the shark dies at the hands of two astounded fishermen, readers will experience relief as well as a sense of tragedy. As with the adult book, there are no notes--only a list of further readings that kids can use to find out more.

Horn Book

Capuzzo deftly navigates readers through the circumstances surrounding a series of shark attacks in New Jersey in 1916. He also introduces a social history of the times, complementing but never intruding on the sensational events that form the primary account. Less effective are poetic, but often puzzling, passages narrated by the shark. Archival photos add little to the narrative. Bib.

Kirkus Reviews

Catching the scent of a younger audience, Capuzzo tears out great gobbets of social history from his adult work for this more action-oriented children's version. Strewing period photos and sensationalistic news clippings throughout, the author delivers a ripping account of the brief but bloody career of a single juvenile Great White who developed a taste for Jersey swimmers and sent much of the Atlantic seaboard into a panic. Characterizing the shark as a piscine serial killer, Capuzzo sweeps readers between grisly attacks with appetizing glimpses of the area's elegant hotels and vacationers as well as reconstructions of the shark's origins and behavior, and info-bites about similar encounters, all delivered in orotund prose: "The fish moved with the precision and trajectory of an enormous bullet, a shot somehow fired in slow motion through the medium of the sea." Readers who slavered over Peter Benchley's Jaws (1974), which was inspired by the incident, may prefer to sink their teeth into this partially flensed reworking. (afterword) (Nonfiction. 11-13)

Publishers Weekly (Fri Oct 06 00:00:00 CDT 2023)

Michael Capuzzo presents Close to Shore: The Terrifying Shark Attacks of 1916, an adaptation of his 2001 book for adults, Close to Shore: A True Story of Terror in the Age of Innocence. In chronicling the first documented shark attacks on swimmers, which occurred along the Jersey shore in 1916, the work also provides a look at early-20th-century life, with special attention paid to leisure pursuits. Photos, maps and period newspaper clippings illustrate the text.

School Library Journal

Gr 6-10-An adaptation of Capuzzo's adult book, Close to Shore: A True Story of Terror in an Age of Innocence (Broadway, 2001). During the summer of 1916, just as railroad travel enabled city dwellers to make day-trips to the seashore and swimming in the ocean became popular, bathers along the East Coast were frightened away by a series of vicious attacks in the water. During a one-month period, three men and one boy were killed. Initial opinions of the attacker ranged from sea turtles to killer whales or swordfish, before it was determined to be the work of a rogue white shark. Capuzzo describes the shark's quest to satiate his hunger with the flesh of humans, sometimes verging close to anthropomorphism as he builds an atmosphere of suspense about the creature, its wanderings and its means of attack. The menacing cover of a gaping shark's mouth, the addition of black-and-white photos and newspaper clippings, and the suspenseful writing add to the accessibility of this work for young people. There are no footnotes, but an explanation of the sources used to compile this account is offered along with a sampling of books consulted. Peter Benchley's Shark Trouble (Random, 2002) and Thomas B. Allen's Shark Attacks: Their Causes and Avoidance (Lyons, 2001) offer wider-ranging examples of shark attacks, along with ways to avoid them.-Pam Spencer Holley, Young Adult Literature Specialist, Virginia Beach, VA Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.