Bonnie Tsui, author of Why We Swim, recently asked a class of high-school students for their opinions on swimming: “What do you think about when you think about swimming?” Their answers varied from “fun” to “fear” to “family” to “summer.” But one response stood out the most: “freedom.” In her book, Mrs. Tsui expresses her love for our human relationship with water, and how that relationship can lead to so much more in life.
Tsui’s books aren’t the only ones that intertwine swimming and water with the ups and downs of life. Two picture books and one graphic novel, all recently released, bring this idea to life, allowing readers of all ages to understand people’s relationship with water in a similar manner to the ways in which Mrs. Tsui and the authors of these other books do.
Swimmers, a picture book by María José Ferrada, began as a detailed piece of artwork with an extensive story behind it by Mariana Alcántara. Ms. José Ferrada gave the image a new story. Its theme suggests that water is the source of creativity and creations. Her story portrays a school of fish who dream of becoming Olympic swimmers and a group of Olympic swimmers who dream of themselves as fish.
Ms. José Ferrada’s story is all about seemingly impossible dreams—fish wearing swimsuits and human swimmers who possess fishlike fins.
According to the New York Times, “‘The fish all wake up at the same time, just when they’ve finished the 150-meter race. Even though it’s never a dream they want to wake up from, they aren’t sad.… It’s a dream that has been dreamed by fish since the world was the world and the sea was the sea, and it always will be.’”
Believing in what seems impossible, dreaming of the possibilities, imagining a new, different, possibly better lifestyle helps bring to life Zoe, the protagonist of The Summer of Diving by renowned Swedish novelist and playwright Sara Stridsberg.
What starts out as an ordinary morning for Zoe becomes a confusing nightmare when she finds out about her hospitalized father’s terrible suffering from depression. Sabina, an intriguing woman with a blue bathrobe covering her bright, red swimsuit, changes Zoe’s reality and pushes the borderlines of possibilities for the girl. “‘Shall we swim?’ [Sabina] asks Zoe.”
Sabina shows Zoe what imagination really means and what it can really do. Summer gradually stretches into Spring as Sabina and Zoe dive from park benches into a welcoming sea of grass, where they swim together, practicing their strokes as new friends.
Sometimes, Sabina escapes reality and disappears into her own universe. “She dives into another world. I wait until she comes back.” And just like Sabina, with a little patience on Zoe’s part, her dad comes back, too. “When my dad finally comes, Sabina and I have swum around the world a few times.”
Moving can be hard. Especially if your new school’s only open elective happens to be Swim 101 and your greatest fear is water. Johnnie Christmas shows readers how a phobia can feel in his new graphic novel, Swim Team, a perfect read for kids in the middle grades.
The protagonist, Bree, receives swimming instruction from her elderly upstairs neighbor, Etta, a former swimming champion who once saved Bree when the girl nearly drowned.
Swimming can be fun and freeing, and it’s meant to be to be joyful for everyone, regardless of race and color. Mr. Christmas gives these complications attention, with America’s history of white-dominated beaches and public pools and Etta’s complex background as a Black swimmer.
According to the New York Times, “Enter the Enith Brigitha Manatees. Bree’s new school is named after the first Black woman to win an Olympic medal in swimming, and its swim team is the underdog battling a threatened pool closure and a snooty rival school’s team.”
From an endless flow of creativity to an unlimited world of imagination to complicated histories entangled with civil-rights violations, water and swimming are meant to bring joy while teaching life lessons to thousands of readers around the world. These three books develop such themes in artsy, poetic styles while bringing delight to eager readers.
Sources: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/29/books/review/johnnie-christmas-swim-team.html
Tsui’s books aren’t the only ones that intertwine swimming and water with the ups and downs of life. Two picture books and one graphic novel, all recently released, bring this idea to life, allowing readers of all ages to understand people’s relationship with water in a similar manner to the ways in which Mrs. Tsui and the authors of these other books do.
Swimmers, a picture book by María José Ferrada, began as a detailed piece of artwork with an extensive story behind it by Mariana Alcántara. Ms. José Ferrada gave the image a new story. Its theme suggests that water is the source of creativity and creations. Her story portrays a school of fish who dream of becoming Olympic swimmers and a group of Olympic swimmers who dream of themselves as fish.
Ms. José Ferrada’s story is all about seemingly impossible dreams—fish wearing swimsuits and human swimmers who possess fishlike fins.
According to the New York Times, “‘The fish all wake up at the same time, just when they’ve finished the 150-meter race. Even though it’s never a dream they want to wake up from, they aren’t sad.… It’s a dream that has been dreamed by fish since the world was the world and the sea was the sea, and it always will be.’”
Believing in what seems impossible, dreaming of the possibilities, imagining a new, different, possibly better lifestyle helps bring to life Zoe, the protagonist of The Summer of Diving by renowned Swedish novelist and playwright Sara Stridsberg.
What starts out as an ordinary morning for Zoe becomes a confusing nightmare when she finds out about her hospitalized father’s terrible suffering from depression. Sabina, an intriguing woman with a blue bathrobe covering her bright, red swimsuit, changes Zoe’s reality and pushes the borderlines of possibilities for the girl. “‘Shall we swim?’ [Sabina] asks Zoe.”
Sabina shows Zoe what imagination really means and what it can really do. Summer gradually stretches into Spring as Sabina and Zoe dive from park benches into a welcoming sea of grass, where they swim together, practicing their strokes as new friends.
Sometimes, Sabina escapes reality and disappears into her own universe. “She dives into another world. I wait until she comes back.” And just like Sabina, with a little patience on Zoe’s part, her dad comes back, too. “When my dad finally comes, Sabina and I have swum around the world a few times.”
Moving can be hard. Especially if your new school’s only open elective happens to be Swim 101 and your greatest fear is water. Johnnie Christmas shows readers how a phobia can feel in his new graphic novel, Swim Team, a perfect read for kids in the middle grades.
The protagonist, Bree, receives swimming instruction from her elderly upstairs neighbor, Etta, a former swimming champion who once saved Bree when the girl nearly drowned.
Swimming can be fun and freeing, and it’s meant to be to be joyful for everyone, regardless of race and color. Mr. Christmas gives these complications attention, with America’s history of white-dominated beaches and public pools and Etta’s complex background as a Black swimmer.
According to the New York Times, “Enter the Enith Brigitha Manatees. Bree’s new school is named after the first Black woman to win an Olympic medal in swimming, and its swim team is the underdog battling a threatened pool closure and a snooty rival school’s team.”
From an endless flow of creativity to an unlimited world of imagination to complicated histories entangled with civil-rights violations, water and swimming are meant to bring joy while teaching life lessons to thousands of readers around the world. These three books develop such themes in artsy, poetic styles while bringing delight to eager readers.
Sources: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/29/books/review/johnnie-christmas-swim-team.html
