Flip & Fin: We Rule the School!

by Timothy Gill, Neil Numberman (Illustrator)

It's Joke Day at school for Flip and Fin, the sand shark twins! What sits on the bottom of the sea and shakes? A nervous wreck! What do sea monsters eat? Fish and ships! Laugh-out-loud funny, Flip & We Rule the School! is a perfectly silly—and perfectly lovable—deep-sea story about brothers and best friends. It's almost Joke Day, and Flip is practicing his best jokes. Flip's twin brother Fin thinks Flip's pretty chomping good. But Flip doesn't plan for stage fright! Luckily, Flip and Fin always have each other's back. Filled to the gills with the best kind of good-natured, goofy kindergarten humor, Flip and We Rule the School! is a storytime book that will get giggles with every read. Neil Numberman's spectacular bright watercolors create a fun, often surprising underwater neighborhood for Flip and Fin and their friends, from sunken ship school to coral reef home, and from jellyfish to anglerfish. And for those who can't get enough of undersea creatures, a glossary of fish facts is included in the back.

Genres: Picture Books, Humor, Jokes, Animals, School, Storytime, Childrens

32 pages, Hardcover

First published April 22, 2014

Reviews

[Neil Numberman · Rating 5 out of 5]

I personally enjoyed this book. Illustrations were definitely created by a handsome, gifted young man. You can just tell!

[Erik This Kid Reviews Books · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a funny book – literally! It is chocked full of corny jokes and I am a corny joke fan. ;) I wish we had Joke Day at school. I like how Fin and Flip help each other out in the story to get over the problems they are having. Mr. Gill has also included a handy “Did You Know…” in the back about Sand Sharks (what Flip & Fin are) and some of the other sea-characters we see in the book. The illustrations are fun and go with the story well. There are lots of details in them to look at. There are a lot of words on the pages that may make it hard for really young kids to read by themselves. The book would make an awesome read aloud.
*NOTE* I got a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review

[Christine Turner · Rating 4 out of 5]

What sits on the bottom of the sea and shakes? A nervous wreck! What do sea monsters eat? Fish and ships! What do you call a sand shark who gets stage fright on Joke Day? A frozen fish stick! Will that happen to Flip? No way! Who rules the school? Flip and Fin, the sand shark twins! Timothy Gill lives every week like it's Shark Week. He resides in New York City.

Subject:
Wit and humor -- Juvenile fiction.
Stage fright -- Juvenile fiction.
Twins -- Juvenile fiction
Brothers -- Juvenile fiction
Schools -- Juvenile fiction
Sand tiger shark -- Juvenile fiction.
Sharks -- Juvenile fiction.

[Chinasa Izeogu · Rating 4 out of 5]

Flip & Fin rule the school and they know it. Joke Day is coming up and Flip is practicing his jokes. Will he work out the kinks in his jokes? Read on to find out. This would make a great book to read to preschoolers. The many jokes provide scenarios for many future readings as not all jokes need be read all at once.

[BiblioBeruthiel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not ST for me. Joke book more than anything else.

[Kristen Lango · Rating 1 out of 5]

The art is cute and I always love a kids book that is painted with traditional watercolor but the story is just very flat, it felt like just a way to jam a bunch of jokey jokes into a book.

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was cute. It is going to be joke night at school, and Flip is deciding what joke to tell. When he gets nervous, Fin comes to his aid. Funny jokes, too!

[Alysa Dail · Rating 3 out of 5]

Filled with clever undersea jokes, Flip & Fin: We Rule the School is a joyful and interactive story. It follows Flip & Fin, two sand shark twins, that love to tell jokes all of the time. Joke Day at their school is right around the corner, and Flip is planning on telling one of his fabulous jokes, however, he did not prepare for being up on stage in front of a large crowd. Stage fright kicks in, but with the help of his brother/bestfriend Fin, nothing is impossible to overcome. This book is not only filled with good-natured humor that children will not be able to get enough of, but it even includes a page of fish facts at the end of the book!


**An activity that could go along with this book could be an activity requiring the students to make up their own joke. You could provide deep sea creature cutouts and the children would have to write their own joke on the cutout and then they could be hung up around the room for the rest of the class to read and enjoy. You could even provide cutouts for the certain fish in the back of the book, and so as you pass out the different cutouts, you can talk about those fish facts and provide a mini science lesson as well.


Gill, T., & Numberman, N. (2014). Flip and Fin: We Rule the School!. New York: HarperCollins Publishers.

[Sandy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Joke Day is coming up and Flip is practicing for the big day. With his best friend Fin, this duo calls themselves the sand shark twins. Flip forgets his punch lines and when he starts practicing his jokes they aren’t that funny but with encouragement from Fin, he is soon cracking Fin and his friends up. On the big day, stepping up to the microphone, Flip freezes but his buddy Fin is there to pull him through as they are the Super Sharks. The last few pages are devoted to jokes some funny and some well, perhaps if I was a kid I might get a laugh out of them. On the last page of the book there are facts about sand sharks, anglerfish, jellyfish, starfish and swordfish. There are plenty of words inside this book with lots of dialogue set with a medium typeset making this a great book for kids to read. I love the words the author uses such as quivered, yup, snorted, trickled, stared, replied and stammered. Great book about friendship.

[Joan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I considered adding this to the story time shelf and decided against it. Any intrepid librarian who tried would finish up grey haired a good 15-30 minutes later. This was a fun book. Perhaps too funny. Or punny. Flip and Fin are two sharks who go to school. To prepare for sharing day, both start telling a whole bunch of classic oldies that no one gets through American childhood without hearing. Knock knock jokes, you name it. Of course having practiced, one of the sharks gets stage fright until his brother helps him out from the audience by asking the questions and he answered the jokes. Nice fun book. Kids will likely love it and do some studying of it. Parents should be warned what they are letting themselves in for before checking it out. Or don't and await the results!

[Celena · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a fun frolick under the sea with Flip and Fin the shark twins. I love that there is a stage of childhood where one finds jokes incredibly entertaining, even the act of telling them. We learn to engage an audience with a question. It is another literacy hoop we jump through to find out what tickles us. Flip and Fin tickled me and I think it will tickle quite a number of kids with a penchant for clowning around. A great picture book for a read along with a parent and then to read on alone. Flip teaches us you have to practise jokes after all.

[Erin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Joke Day at school is coming up. Flip REALLY wants to make everyone laugh. He practices jokes on his brother Fin and friends to get better and better. When the big day comes, he realizes that he'll have to go up on stage and say his joke to the whole school! He forgot about that part, so he's really nervous. Fin saves the day and makes Flip forget about being nervous. The whole school has a hilarious time!

[Romelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Flip &Fin is about a shark who is preparing for his school's annual Joke Day, but ends up speechless on stage. Much of the story is with Flip telling jokes to his friends, but Flip &Fin is not just a book full of jokes (and there a plenty of fun aquatic jokes), it is a book about friendship and overcoming stage fright. What more, author Timothy Gill includes fun facts about sand sharks, angler fish, jellyfish, starfish, and swordfish.

[Mary · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a good book for a variety of ages because the jokes in it range in difficulty from very basic to more advanced. There are lots of funny ocean-themed jokes which are at times cheesey, but still likable. I liked that there was information about the sea creatures mentioned within the book at the end and that feelings of stage fright and friendship were discussed.

[Anthony · Rating 3 out of 5]

Flip & Fin are twin brothers who happen to be sand sharks. Joke day at school is rapidly approaching and preparations are underway for the big day. The story tells how to overcome the unexpected. It's also filled with fish jokes that will bring both groans and smiles.

[Cathy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Full of jokes and colorful underwater animals, just not my cup of tea

[Rachel · Rating 2 out of 5]

Lots of jokes that have great kid appeal, but not not my taste.

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

hilarious. the jokes were great.

[Bala · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting

[Jodie · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's joke day and twin sharks are preparing for it.

[Debby Baumgartner · Rating 3 out of 5]

Flip and Fin are twin shark twins. Who will win the joke contest at school? Lots of water creatures jokes.

[Edward Sullivan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Twin sharks rule the school on Joke Day.

[Linda Atkinson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I must confess- I found Flip and Fin quite amusing- in words and illustrations.

[Philip Carlson · Rating 3 out of 5]

cute book full of jokes with a great s shark and sea life theme.

[Payton Atwood]

This is a fun read for students that will make them laugh! Flip and Fin are two shark brothers that go around school telling many different jokes. Will the other kids think they are funny? Read this book to find out.