The Shark on the Screen

A shark in the canal. In a party hat. On a wet day in Kettlebridge.

The picture that pops up on the tablet is brilliant, not frightening, and that is exactly the problem. Nothing about it feels like a warning.

The story

Ash is five. He and Mum are looking at the tablet when a shark appears in their local canal, wearing a pointy hat. "Hang on a minute!" says Ash. "A shark? In OUR canal?"

Biscuit the dog sniffs the screen, does not bark, and goes back to sleep. Biscuit only cares about real things.

Ash runs to find his big sister Maya. Maya looks close. "Check it before you trust it," she says. "Look at the duck."

The tell

The duck has four toes. Ducks have three.

That is the lesson, and it is a real one: made-up pictures get the small things wrong. Nan explains that a computer made the picture, and then settles it properly by taking them all to the canal to look. Real ducks. Three toes each. No shark at all.

"The shark was made-up!" says Ash. "But the ducks are real. And so are you, Nan."

Reading it together

An early reader picture book, sixteen spreads, a picture on every page. Two minutes of words, longer if you stop to count the duck's toes yourself. A repeated refrain that children join in with by the third page. It works at bedtime and in a classroom.

Read it to a four-year-old and they will follow it. Hand it to a six-year-old and they will read it to you.

For parents, carers and teachers

There is no live AI in this book and no data is collected from any reader. Every word was written and checked by people. For a book about telling real from made-up, we thought that mattered.

Nothing in it is frightening. Ash is never in danger, nobody is unkind, and the shark is funny rather than scary. Children come away with something to do, not something to fear. It suits Reception, Year 1 and Year 2, or kindergarten and first grade.

Good for

Media literacy for kids at the age it is easiest to teach. An internet safety picture book for children who are only just starting on screens, and an online safety book that begins where it ought to begin: with spotting that a picture is not a fact. Cyber safety for kids, without the fear. Screen time conversations that do not turn into an argument, because the question is what is on the screen rather than how long it has been on.

It is also where artificial intelligence for kids begins. AI images get details wrong, and a five-year-old who has counted a duck's toes has already learned to look.

What your child will be able to do

Not everything on a screen is real. Some pictures are made up by a computer.

Curriculum

Mapped to the statutory online safety and digital literacy strands of the curricula of England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland: the National Curriculum for England (Computing, and statutory Relationships and Health Education), the Curriculum for Wales (Digital Competence Framework), Scotland's Curriculum for Excellence (Technologies, and Health and Wellbeing), and the Northern Ireland Curriculum (Using ICT, and Personal Development and Mutual Understanding). US grades K to 2, Australia and New Zealand Foundation to Year 2. Not endorsed or accredited by any government body.

The series

Book 1 of 6 in Little Safety Spotters, for ages 5 to 7. The others are My Name Is Mine, The Funny Feeling, Not My Photo, The Screen Got It Wrong and That Sounds Like Nan. All six together in Safety Spotters: Six Ash Stories.

Every book closes on the same two lines: Is it real? Let's ask! And: that is the big, strong move. What gets spotted changes each time.

Available as an ebook and a paperback.

Free activity sheets, the grown-ups' guide and the rest of the series at safetyspotters.com

Is it real? Let's ask.