"Bonnie Tsui looks at our love affair with the water, from evolution to mythology, from survival and well-being, from community swim clubs to competitive races, and she goes around the world to explore its significance in many cultures"--

Learning disabilities make school painful for Annabelle, thirteen, but a summer of swimming with the high school team is fantastic until a prank goes wrong, spoiling everything.

"Natalia De La Cruz Rivera y Santiago, also known as Nat, was swimming neighborhood kids out of their money at the local Inglewood pool when her life changed. The LA Mermaids performed, emerging out of the water with matching sequined swimsuits, and it was then that synchronized swimming stole her heart. The problem? Her activist mom and professor dad think it’s a sport with too much emphasis on looks–on being thin and white. Nat grew...

The author describes how, while training for a long-distance swim off the coast of California, she encountered a baby gray whale that had become separated from its mother and had been following her instead, and relates her efforts to find the baby's mother.

Babymouse has big dreams . . . and wet whiskers. She has joined the swim team and is ready to dive in. Next stop, the Olympics! But competitive sports aren’t really her strong suit. Will hard work and determination earn her a gold medal?

"Jabari is definitely ready to jump off the diving board. He's finished his swimming lessons and passed his swim test, and he's a great jumper, so he's not scared at all. "Looks easy," says Jabari, watching the other kids take their turns. But when his dad squeezes his hand, Jabari squeezes back. He needs to figure out what kind of special jump to do anyway, and he should probably do some stretches before climbing up onto the diving board. In a sweetly...

In the late-1970s, when she's offered a job at the community pool's snack shack, Sunny must keep her head above water with the help of a cute boy.