SWIMMERS

Heralding swimmers both human and piscine.

This book opens with the rumination that “every species has a recurring dream.” It conflates human swimmers who may aspire to aquatic glory with fish who, we’re informed, “dream of becoming Olympic swimmers”—though this is “an unlikely dream.” Young readers should appreciate the notion that when skimming effortlessly through the water, they almost take on the attributes of actual fish. Indeed, the quirky, imaginative illustrations, appearing to have been created mostly with charcoal textures and collage and with some touches of color, often depict human swimmers—here rendered dark-skinned in charcoal black—artfully and gracefully melding with the anatomies of confident, sleek, streamlined denizens of the sea. The book ostensibly means to encourage young swimming enthusiasts to stick with their sport and think of themselves as “human fish.” The text soberly allows that if young swimmers wish to achieve Olympic heights, they must train rigorously, eat well, get an adequate amount of sleep—and, inexplicably—wear a prescribed color of swimsuit. They must also remember to look to genuine record-breaking swimming champions of the scaly, gilled kind—e.g., salmon—for inspiration. Alas, children, swimmers or otherwise, will likely find little inspiration in this odd Latin American import’s bland, confusing narrative and flat, abrupt ending. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

Skippable; swim on by.