Brainstorm 339: Swimming Fun Reads

This week, as promised, we have some fun swimming stories to help you cool down vicariously on those hot days. Click on the titles of each book to see my full review and any content notes/trigger warnings.

Jasper & Ollie (Jasper & Ollie, #1) by Alex Willan

In a nutshell: A fox and a sloth head to the pool but at very different paces.

More info: Friends Jasper (a fox) and Ollie (a sloth) decide to go to the pool. Jasper gets there miles ahead of Ollie and then wonders where Ollie could be. He goes to great lengths to find his friend. Meanwhile, Ollie is having a leisurely stroll to the pool, getting the mail, and helping neighbors on the way.

Extra thoughts: The illustrations of this story about opposites are fantastically fun and definitely tell a huge chunk of the story. Ollie is very kind in his ramblings, and Jasper learns to slow down a tiny bit by the end of the story.

Target readers: Humor Fans, Animal Story Fans, Art Lovers, Opposites Story Fans, Compare/Contrast Story Fans, Picture Book Readers

Pool by JiHyeon Lee

In a nutshell: Two children meet at a crowded pool and have a fantastic time in the world they imagine under the water.

More info: The nutshell says it all.

Extra thoughts: This wordless picture book will enthrall readers who love to imagine as they play. Art students could have fun analyzing why the normal world is in black and white, and why the imaginary world has color.

Target readers: Wordless Book Fans, Imaginative Readers, Art Lovers, Friendship Story Fans, Picture Book Readers

Pool Party! (Farmer Brown’s Backyard Tales) by Doreen Cronin, ill. by Betsy Lewin

In a nutshell: All of Farmer Brown’s animals try to fit in one small pool to cool down on a hot day.

More info: Farmer Brown and the animals are HOT. Farmer Brown's brother Bob has a pool and invites them to come over to swim. But they have a lot of animals, and once everyone else is in the cows aren't so sure about getting in with all the splashing and noise. Will everyone be able to enjoy the cool waters, or will someone be left out?

Extra thoughts: There's a 1-5 counting element to this (and you could also do adding activities to figure out how many total are in the pool at any one time). So this is a nice math picture book on top of being a lightly humorous summer tale.

Target readers: Animal Story Fans, Humor Fans, Counting Story Fans, Math Story Fans, Leveled Reader Fans, Picture Book Readers

Really Truly (Pumpkin Falls, #3) by Heather Vogel Frederick

In a nutshell: Truly’s summer is spent at family reunions, investigating a missing trophy, going to mermaid camp, and hunting for possible lost treasure in her home town.

More info: Truly is ready for the best summer ever. After her mom's family reunion she's going to work at the bookstore and go to the movie festival with Calhoun, and have some alone time with her parents because all her siblings will be at camp. But then during the family reunion Mackenzie sees a brochure for Mermaid camp and even though that sounds like torture instead of fun to Truly (and there's a missing trophy the Pumpkin Falls Private Eyes have been tasked to find), she finds herself signed up along with Mackenzie, Cha Cha, and Jasmine. While there, Truly stumbles across a clue in a book about a local pirate ship wreck she thinks points to her ancestor? Could the patron saint of Pumpkin Falls Nathaniel Daniel Lovejoy have secretly been the former pirate Dandy Dan? If so, is his treasure still around? And will Truly ever have a chance to investigate after a disaster at the end of Mermaid Academy gets her grounded for life and sentenced to stage hand duty for the community production of The Pirates of Penzance?

Extra thoughts: This is the 3rd book in a series of realistic mysteries featuring Truly, a girl from a military family that’s moved a lot finally settling down in a small New England town. She’s on the swim team during the school year, and with mermaid camp, there’s a lot of swimming involved in the story. Truly grows a lot through the summer and learns important things for any middle grade reader to learn. And I love that the book introduces readers to Esther Williams movies and Gilbert & Sullivan musicals.

Target readers: Contemporary Fiction Fans, Mystery Fans, Summer Story Fans, Family Story Fans, Friendship Story Fans, Treasure Hunt Fans, Camp Story Fans, Middle Grade Readers/Young Adult Readers

Swim, Mo, Swim (Mo Jackson) by David A. Adler, ill. by Sam Ricks

In a nutshell: Mo gets a little help from some of the lake residents to swim fast on field day.

More info: It's field day and Mo and his friends really want to win the ice cream prize for the best team. They do ok in most events, but only have 1 medal so far. They need one more to win, and Mo is their last competitor in the swimming race. Mo's pace doesn't seem like it is enough to win, but then he meets some residents of the lake that give him a boost.

Extra thoughts: This is the funniest Mo book so far. The little nibbling fish and Mo's reactions are quite funny (mostly because it seems oh so believable). I also liked how Mo and his teammates cheered each other on.

Target readers: Sports Story Fans, Field Day Story Fans, Teamwork Story Fans, Humor Fans, Contemporary Fiction Fans, Leveled Reader Fans, Picture Book Readers

Trudy’s Big Swim: How Gertrude Ederle Swam the English Channel and Took the World by Storm by Sue Macy, ill. by Matt Collins

In a nutshell: A picture book biography of the first woman to swim the English Channel.

More info: A picture book biography of Gertrude Ederle that focuses on her successful swim across the English Channel in 1926. She was the first woman to swim across the Channel, and when she completed the feat she beat all the previous male swimmer's times.

Extra thoughts: An amazing sports history moment, and women's history moment, that is gorgeously illustrated and told at an exciting pace.

Target readers: History Fans, Sports Story Fans, Crazy True Story Fans, Picture Book Biography Fans, Art Lovers, Lower Grade Readers