At first the big blue sea makes them feel small and scared. Then the child visits a lake and a river, and their fear of water gradually starts to ebb as curiosity begins to flow.
Swimming
Aniana Del Mar Jumps In
Aniana del Mar belongs in the water like a dolphin belongs to the sea. But she and Papi keep her swim practices and meets hidden from Mami, who has never recovered from losing someone she loves to the water years ago. That is, until the day Ani’s stiffness and swollen joints mean she can no longer get out of bed, and Ani is forced to reveal just how important swimming is to her. Mami forbids her from returning to the water but Ani and her doctor believe that swimming along with medication will help Ani manage her disease. What follows is the journey of a girl who must grieve who she once was in order to rise like the tide and become the young woman she is meant to be. Aniana Del Mar Jumps In is a poignant story about chronic illness and disability, the secrets between mothers and daughters, the harm we do to the ones we love the most—and all the triumphs, big and small, that keep us afloat.
Annette Feels Free
Meet “The Original Mermaid,” Annette Kellerman! All her life, Annette wanted one thing: to feel free. As a girl she found freedom in the water, where she could swim without the leg braces she needed on land. As she grew up, Annette swam in Australia and England and America and beyond, performing synchronized swimming-which she invented!-and competing in swim races and diving exhibitions. But always she was bogged down by her heavy swim clothes. Clothes that only women had to wear, not men. So Annette designed her own swim costume. And then, she fought for the right to wear it-and for the right for all women to feel free.
Sakamoto’s Swin Club:How a Teacher Led an Unlikely Team to Victory
The inspirational and little-known story of a dedicated teacher who coached Hawaiian swimmers all the way to the Olympics, beautifully told in simple rhyme.When the children of workers on a 1930s Maui sugar plantation were chased away from playing in the nearby irrigation ditches, local science teacher Soichi Sakamoto had an idea. He offered to take responsibility for the children — and then he began training them how to swim. Using his science background, Sakamoto devised his own innovative coaching techniques: he developed a strict practice regime for the kids, building their strength and endurance by using the ditch water’s natural current. The children worked hard under the dedicated Sakamoto’s guidance, and their skills improved. They formed a swim club and began to dominate in swimming events around the world.
Cannonball
Determined to execute the perfect cannonball dive, a boy tries to follow everyone’s advice but finally hears Nan, an expert and former champion, who advises doing it his own way.
Queen Victoria’s Bathing Machine
Prince Albert comes up with a royally creative solution to Queen Victoria’s modesty concerns in this true story that reveals an overlooked splash of history. Poor Queen Victoria! She loves to swim, but can’t quite figure out how to get to the water without her devoted subjects glimpsing her swimming suit. (Because, of course, such a sight would compromise her regal dignity.) Fortunately for the water-loving monarch, it’s Prince Albert to the rescue with an invention fit for a queen! This quirky tale about the longest reigning monarch in British history is as fun as it is authentic, and the book includes a picture of the actual bathing machine Prince Albert created.
Little Chicken Duck
Follows the adventures of a duck whose fear of water prevents her from learning to swim until she is assisted by a kindhearted frog and forest birds who reveal how they overcame their own fears.
Ducks Like To Swim
An assortment of animals join a mother duck in making noises in an effort to bring on rain.
Sergio Makes a Splash
Even though he loves water, Sergio the penguin is afraid to swim in the deep water until he learns how.
Splash, Joshua, Splash!
Joshua enjoys water splashing when he feeds the ducks, walks his dog, and especially when he and his grandmother splash in the swimming pool.