Barely Floating

by Lilliam Rivera (Author)

Barely Floating
Reading Level: 6th − 7th Grade

A dazzling story full of heart about how one twelve-year-old channels her rage into synchronized swimming dreams from The Education of Margot Sanchez author Lilliam Rivera.

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 up the youngest in a house full of boys, so she knows how to fight for what she wants, often using her anger to fuel her. People often underestimate her swimming skills when they see her stomach rolls, but she knows better than to worry about what people think. Still, she feels more like a submarine than a mermaid, but she wonders if she might be both.

Barely Floating explores what it means to sparkle in your skin, build community with those who lift you up, and keep floating when waters get rough.

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Kirkus

A body-positive story of growing up that’s sure to make a splash.

Publishers Weekly

Starred Review

Rivera (We Light Up the Stars) makes a splash with this charming novel about a fat Latinx 12-year-old who dreams of becoming a synchronized swimmer. Natalia De La Cruz Rivera y Santiago knows it's "hard to contain a person like me," a short-tempered hustler who spends her summer days at the public pool challenging other young swimmers to races she knows she'll win. After watching a performance by Black-owned synchronized swimming team the L.A. Mermaids, Nat is spellbound and immediately wants to join the squad, but her hyper-activist mother forbids her from trying out, believing that the sport is anti-feminist because of its focus on costuming and traditionally slender and white beauty standards. Nat secretly joins anyway, making new friends and finding security in her fatness. But clashes with thin, affluent teammates and increasing emotional distance between Nat and her best friend sour her newfound passions. Nat is a confident protagonist whose stalwart self-acceptance makes her a character worth rooting for. In laugh-out-loud, blunt prose, Rivera cultivates a touching and unapologetically positive interpretation of one tween's desire to break the mold. Supporting characters are racially diverse. Ages 9-12. (Aug.)

Copyright 2023 Publishers Weekly, LLC Used with permission.

School Library Journal

Gr 5 Up--Twelve-year-old Nat has never hesitated to speak her mind or to stand up for what she believes in, even if it sometimes gets her in trouble for being angry and confrontational. But when her parents forbid her from joining the L.A. Mermaids, a local synchronized swimming team, she is afraid to try to convince them. Her mother has always actively opposed any activity that is overly focused on physical appearance or traditional female beauty norms. Nat joins the team without telling her family, and although she loves the way synchronized swimming makes her feel, she is soon struggling to pay for equipment, find transportation, and juggle her practice schedule, homework, and time with her best friend. She also has to find ways to deal with people who imply that synchronized swimming should only be for thin white girls, not Latinas with curves like hers. Eventually, her secret is discovered, and Nat has to find a way to explain her feelings to her parents without damaging her relationship with them. The strength of this novel lies in its complex, believable characters. Nat loves and respects her parents, who are presented as encouraging and progressive, but she chafes against her mother's dismissal of fashion and make-up, and sometimes wishes her mother would take time away from her various political causes to be with her. She is extremely confident and self-assured, but still has occasional moments of doubt when faced with comments about her physical appearance. One subplot featuring a cousin who becomes estranged from her mother for being gay, is left unresolved at the end of the book. But it serves as a counterpoint to the complicated yet ultimately strong relationship between Nat and her mother. The novel features a diverse cast of characters from a wide range of backgrounds, and Nat's first-person narrative is sprinkled with Spanish words and phrases. VERDICT This compelling character-driven novel will leave readers wanting to spend more time with Nat and her family.--Ashley Larsen

Copyright 2023 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
Lilliam Rivera
Lilliam Rivera is an award-winning writer and author of the young adult novels Dealing in Dreams, The Education of Margot Sanchez, the middle grade novel Goldie Vance: The Hotel Whodunit, and the forthcoming Never Look Back by Bloomsbury. Her work has appeared in The Washington Post, The New York Times, and Elle, to name a few.
Classification
Fiction
ISBN-13
9780593323120
Lexile Measure
-
Guided Reading Level
-
Publisher
Kokila
Publication date
August 29, 2023
Series
-
BISAC categories
JUV039060 - Juvenile Fiction | Social Themes | Friendship
JUV032060 - Juvenile Fiction | Sports & Recreation | Water Sports
JUV011030 - Juvenile Fiction | People & Places | United States - Hispanic & Latino
Library of Congress categories
Friendship
Family life
Self-esteem
Secrets
Mexican Americans
Synchronized swimming

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