When You Can Swim

Starred review from March 27, 2023
In visually inventive, lovingly finished pastel-and-watercolor spreads and sinuous lines of prose-poetry, debut author-illustrator Wong showcases myriad children encountering the joys of swimming. An adult accompanies a child in each spread, narrating in anticipatory text what awaits them both: “When you can swim,/ first I’ll take you to the ocean//... to receive the water’s welcome.” Throughout, varied figures spanning abilities, ages, body types, and skin tones float, stroke, and dive into and under water. Across numerous locales—a local pool, a sandy beach, an opulent lake, and a winding river—the figures spot sea stars, “listen to the clinking/ of waves passing in and out/ of a million pebbles,” dive down deep into a lake “pitch-dark from tree bark,” and, in a final, suspenseful sequence, swim together a long way out to an island with ripe blueberries. “Yes, this belongs to you, too,” reads an author’s note, in which Wong describes learning to swim as an adult. Such belonging is precisely the triumph that the story envisions, offering swimming’s freedoms widely, and imagining the way that swimming can lend a feeling of autonomy and connection. Ages 4–8. Agent: Wendi Gu, Sanford J. Greenburger Assoc.

May 1, 2023

PreS-Gr 3-Characters across generations and with a variety of skin tones fill the pages of this poetic celebration of the power of swimming. Each scene begins with the words "When you can swim." A single speaker is not identified, and many different children are invited to consider the host of adventures awaiting them once this new skill is acquired. Some of these experiences are tranquil, such as "lying on your back watching treetops drift by" and tumbling "into the water as the pebbles do." Others are more dramatic, as in bending "like boulders beneath rushing waterfalls" or "diving off the bridge over the canal." Lovely outdoor scenes depict swimming in natural settings; not until the last spread do readers spy a young child getting ready for an actual swim lesson at an indoor pool. "So swim little one" closes the book, reinforcing the author's invitation to consider swimming both literally and metaphorically. Learning to swim is much like learning to navigate our lives. VERDICT While this is not a plot-driven story, it would be excellent for early classroom discussions about theme and figurative language.-Gloria Koster

Copyright 2023 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from May 15, 2023
Debut author Wong celebrates the freedom and joys of swimming. With endpapers that depict an Asian child gazing uncertainly at their own reflection in a pool, this book offers beginning swimmers both reassurance and compelling promises of adventure and discovery that will ensue "when you can swim." Images portray adults sharing the gifts of the water with their young ones, from shallow waters perfect for lazy afternoons to the otherworldly landscape of watery depths. Wong's beautiful watercolor-and-pastel illustrations demonstrate a mastery of light and shadow, creating a textural quality that makes each page dance with life and movement. Combined with the lyrical text ("When you can swim, / we'll bend like boulders / beneath rushing waterfalls"), each frame immediately immerses readers in the sights, sounds, and sensations of summer. Swimmers who are diverse in terms of body type, age, skin tone, and ability can be seen enjoying the natural world. In his author's note, Wong shares his own experiences with swimming as a young person of color, explaining that this conscious representation is an affirmation that swimming is for everyone: "Yes, this belongs to you, too." The title is bound to inspire all swimmers to embrace nature, no matter where they are on their journeys. (This book was reviewed digitally.) A gorgeously rendered love letter to swimming and the magical experiences that it can unlock. (Picture book. 4-8)

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