Boy vs. Shark by Paul Gilligan (Tundra, 240 pages, grades 4-7). Paul is already struggling with a best friend named David who wants to hang out with the local bully, Swain, and a dad who wants him to toughen up and stop spending so much time drawing and reading comics. The last thing he needs is the new movie Jaws that everyone is talking about, and the peer pressure he feels to go see it himself. But off he goes to the theater with his dad, and the film proves to be every bit as terrifying as he was afraid it would be. Before long, the shark is haunting Paul’s imagination, telling him he needs to be cooler and go along with what David and Swain want to do. When Paul listens to the shark and gives in, he finds himself in a world of trouble and discovers that doing his own thing and being honest with his parents is actually what works best for him. And when Swain’s shenanigans result in David falling off a roof and breaking his arm, David begins to see the light as well, saving his friendship with Paul. Includes a pictorial glossary of such Jaws-era terms from the story as The Six Million Dollar Man and the Easy-Bake Oven.

As someone just a year older than David, I could relate to his terror of Jaws. While I didn’t see it at the time, just the knowledge of its existence was enough to cast a dark shadow over my happy Jersey shore summer vacations. The story is a fun romp through the 1970’s (no glossary necessary for this boomer), but it’s also a timeless tale of growing up, peer pressure, and friendship, and it’s nice to see this kind of graphic novel written with boy main characters.

Boy Here, Boy There by Chuck Groenink (Tundra, 56 pages, grades K-3). A boy living in prehistoric times leads a nomadic life with his family. While they set up a home in a cave, he explores the surrounding environment, encountering animals like wolves and mammals, and enjoying running, jumping, and rolling in the grass. His most surprising find is a boy similar to himself, whom he sees across the river. That boy waves to him, then walks off with his family. Back at home that night, the boy eats dinner with his family, then blackens his hand with the smoke from the fire and makes handprints on the cave walls to commemorate the wave from the other boy. An author’s note gives more information about Neanderthal people, which is what the boy is, and Homo sapiens, the group the other boy belonged to. Includes a list of sources.

Readers will be fascinated at this glimpse of prehistory, written in short phrases that feel like early language. The Neanderthal boy’s adventures as he explores his new neighborhood have many elements that kids will relate to, and the illustrations do a great job of capturing his joy and wonder at what he sees. It’s not clear from the text who the other boy is, but the author’s note adds the necessary additional information.