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PICTURE BOOKS
Wong, Jack

When You Can Swim

48 pp. | Scholastic/Orchard | May, 2023 | Trade ISBN 9781338830965 $18.99 | Ebook ISBN 9781338830989 $18.99
(1) K-3 With poetic text and gorgeous, inclusive illustrations, Wong invites readers to learn how to swim--to conquer fear of the water, and also to reclaim aquatic spaces for Brown, Black, and differently abled bodies. We first meet a young Asian girl suited up in a rainbow-striped one-piece with goggles perched atop her head; a female caregiver tells her of all the wonderful things that can happen "when you can swim." Then the book segues to scenes of such wonderful things: we see varied groups of people of all colors and ages and sizes in ponds, lakes, and oceans, and splashing under waterfalls. The culmination is a four-spread sequence showing a woman and child setting out from shore with bright orange swim buoys, heading to a little island that looks "close enough" but "proves farther at halfway." Yet: "rising, floating, daring, conquering, we'll make it." Pastel and watercolor illustrations play with perspective, showing the world through swimmers' eyes: looking at the trees while floating on their backs, diving into tea-colored waters. The afterword delves into the author's journey to discover and reclaim swimming as a welcoming pastime for all. This isn't just a book about swimming but also "about our ideas of the world"; it's a manifesto that "this belongs to you, too."
Reviewer: Julie Hakim Azzam | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2023

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