Swimming Along


Book Description

Emilie and Jack are a young brother and sister off to their first day of swimming lessons. They're excited and nervous to be finally learning how to swim. Jack sings a little song to give him courage: "I'm Swimming Along, singing a song." By the end of this colorful children's book, everyone has had a great day at the pool, and even their mom is singing Jack's song! Author Lisa Herbertson wrote this book to encourage children to overcome their fears and to let them know that swimming is a fun and healthy activity. "I had a part time job as a swimming teacher, and was surprised at how many children were afraid of swimming lessons. Swimming is such a crucial skill to have, and often parents aren't quite sure how to encourage their kids." Until recently, first-time author Lisa Herbertson was a professional field hockey player in Europe. She has a Sports Journalism degree from Canberra University in Australia, and is a sports writer, based in Sydney. The characters in Swimming Along were named after her niece and nephew, who were just learning to swim when she started writing it. Catherine Kennedy is a Sydney-based artist with a Master of Art from the College of Fine Arts (UNSW).With teaching experience and two children of her own, she understands the importance of visual input in motivation and learning. "While parents are reading, children are immersed in the illustrations. I hope that the children who see this book will enjoy the pictures as much as I enjoyed creating them." Publisher's website: http: //www.strategicpublishinggroup.com/title/SwimmingAlong.html




Waterlog


Book Description

Inspired by John Cheever's classic short story, 'The Swimmer', Roger Deakin set out from his home in Suffolk to swim through the British Isles. The result of his journey is this personal view of an island race.




The Complete Book of Swimming


Book Description

The all-purpose guide to swimming, for beginners and experts alike, that will help make you fitter, faster, more efficient, and more knowledgeable about this wonderful sport. The Complete Book of Swimming is written for those folks who want to become physically fit and stay physically for the rest of their lives; for folks who are seeking to enhance their lives. There are chapters on the different strokes that provide the “how-to” information people need to get started. Equally important are the chapters that answer such questions as Why should I swim? Why swimming and not some other sport? How can swimming improve my health? How can it enhance my life? How will I become a better person—more vital, more competent, vigorous, sexy . . . alive by swimming? Praise for The Complete Book of Swimming “Phil Witten not only explains the ‘how to’ of swimming in clear, easy-to-understand language, but he also explains the ‘why’ of swimming: why swimming can make you healthier, happier, and sexier, and can make you feel younger. If The Complete Book of Swimming doesn’t convince you that swimming is the best thing you could possibly do for your health, then nothing will.”—Mark Spitz “Finally a book has been written that will put swimming on the map for the general public. Phil Witten combines a storyteller’s gift for creating excitement with scientific knowledge and personal experience. The Complete Book of Swimming is a must read for swimmers (and coaches) at every level, and for anyone interested in lifelong fitness and health.”—Skip Kennedy, Olympic coaching staff, men’s swimming; men’s swimming coach, Stanford University (NCAA champions) “Dr. Whitten has written the perfect all-purpose guide. It’s a useful tool for both experienced swimmers who want to improve, and for rookies who aren’t sure where to begin. The Complete Book of Swimming is an invaluable source for all aging baby boomers.”—Karen Allen, USA Today “Passion arouses passion, and Dr. Whitten surely cannot fail to persuade aspiring swimmers of all ages and abilities that the sport of swimming is the way to a healthier, happier existence. This is a splendid invitation to beginners, while offering a clearer insight to those who have already donned their suits and goggles. The writing is instructive and entertaining, and the illustrations depict the very latest techniques used in the pool.”—Craig Lord, The Times (London)




Haunts of the Black Masseur


Book Description

In a masterful work of cultural history, Charles Sprawson, himself an obsessional swimmer and fluent diver, explores the meaning that different cultures have attached to water, and the search for the springs of classical antiquity. In nineteenth-century England bathing was thought to be an instrument of social and moral reform, while in Germany and America swimming came to signify escape. For the Japanese the swimmer became an expression of samurai pride and nationalism. Sprawson gives is fascinating glimpses of the great swimming heroes: Byron leaping dramatically into the surf at Shelley’s beach funeral; Rupert Brooke swimming naked with Virginia Woolf, the dark water “smelling of mint and mud”; Hart Crane swallow-diving to his death in the Bay of Mexico; Edgar Allan Poe’s lone and mysterious river-swims; Leander, Webb, Weissmuller, and a host of others. Informed by the literature of Swinburne, Goethe, Scott Fitzgerald, and Yukio Mishima; the films of Riefenstahl and Vigo; the Hollywood “swimming musicals” of the 1930s; and delving in and out of Olympic history, Haunts of the Black Masseur is an enthralling assessment of man—body submerged, self-absorbed. It is quite simply the best celebration of swimming ever written, even as it explores aspects of culture in a heretofore unimagined way.




Contested Waters


Book Description

From nineteenth-century public baths to today's private backyard havens, swimming pools have long been a provocative symbol of American life. In this social and cultural history of swimming pools in the United States, Jeff Wiltse relates how, over the years, pools have served as asylums for the urban poor, leisure resorts for the masses, and private clubs for middle-class suburbanites. As sites of race riots, shrinking swimsuits, and conspicuous leisure, swimming pools reflect many of the tensions and transformations that have given rise to modern America.




Curious George Goes Swimming


Book Description

Spending a summer day at their local pool, George helps his friend Lucy learn to swim, despite her fears.




Swimming, Swimming


Book Description

Drawing on his own memories of the best days of summer in the city, Gary Clement brings us an illustrated version of the beloved classic “Swimming, swimming in a swimming pool,” full of fun and humor. The illustrations show a young boy and his friends spending a carefree day at the neighborhood pool. We see them walk to the pool together, change into their trunks and then spend hours swimming, cavorting, splashing and diving. The pool is full of moms, dads, other kids and babies, all enjoying a chance to cool off on a hot summer day. The boy returns home, tired but happy, and falls asleep holding onto his goggles in anticipation of another delightful day at the pool. Includes a short explanation of the hand gestures for the song and a link to a video demonstration.




Brave in the Water


Book Description

Are you afraid to put your face in the water? So is Diante. He would like to play in the pool with other children. He's not afraid to hang upside down, though, and he's surprised to learn his grandma is. Can Diante help Grandma and become brave in the water?




Let's Go Swimming on Doomsday


Book Description

Forced to become a child soldier, a sixteen-year-old Somali refugee must confront his painful past in this haunting, thrilling tale of loss and redemption by the bestselling author of City of Saints & Thieves. Now in paperback. When Abdi's family is kidnapped, he's forced to do the unthinkable: become a child soldier in the ruthless jihadi group Al Shabaab. To save the lives of those he loves and earn their freedom, Abdi agrees to be embedded as a spy within the jihadi group's ranks, sending dispatches on their plans to the Americans. But it's a dangerous role and if Abdi's duplicity is discovered, he will be killed. For weeks, Abdi trains with the jihadi group, witnessing atrocity after atrocity. But after being forced into a suicide bomber's vest, Abdi finally escapes to Sangui City, Kenya. Homeless and shell-shocked, Abdi is picked up for a petty theft, setting into motion a chain reaction that forces him to reckon with a past he's desperate to forget. In this riveting, unflinching tale of sacrifice and hope, critically-acclaimed author Natalie C. Anderson delivers another tour-de-force that will leave readers at the edge of their seats.




Shifting Currents


Book Description

A deep dive into the history of aquatics that exposes centuries-old tensions of race, gender, and power at the root of many contemporary swimming controversies. Shifting Currents is an original and comprehensive history of swimming. It examines the tension that arose when non-swimming northerners met African and Southeast Asian swimmers. Using archaeological, textual, and art-historical sources, Karen Eva Carr shows how the water simultaneously attracted and repelled these northerners—swimming seemed uncanny, related to witchcraft and sin. Europeans used Africans’ and Native Americans’ swimming skills to justify enslaving them, but northerners also wanted to claim water’s power for themselves. They imagined that swimming would bring them health and demonstrate their scientific modernity. As Carr reveals, this unresolved tension still sexualizes women’s swimming and marginalizes Black and Indigenous swimmers today. Thus, the history of swimming offers a new lens through which to gain a clearer view of race, gender, and power on a centuries-long scale.