The one fear/issue I did not have about learning to swim was that the drain in the pool would pull me in, like some Kraken waiting to bring me to Davy Jones locker. But, now well, I still don’t. And that is because of the little girl in A Dive Into the Blue.
Ellie Huynh gives us a story of courage and bravery and literally diving right into the problem. Our small girl is at the edge of the diving board, the drain looking up at her with its tentacles at the bottom of the pool. She needs to gather all that is inside her to jump (or dive). And her imagination helps her with that. She realizes things
are not necessarily as bad as they seem. Afterall, lantern fish sleep with a light.
And this is all lovingly and sweetly done with the illustrations of Bao Luu. The images are soft, but have bold colors, too. The details are minimal, as needed, but fill the page. And most importantly, they bring to life the real and the imaginary in relatable ways. Only one image does not fit this theme of “hopeful and happy imagery” and that is because it is supposed to be scary.
This is a nice book. It might not become a classic, but it has good Now Value. Perfect for one-on-one reading, and it also works for the early reader (who might need some help reading). This seems to be Huynh’s debut, but searching Buu, there are other titles I am interested in, including a Golden Book for Aang of Avatar the Last Airbender I am putting a preorder in for now even though it is due May 2023, but so is A Dive so hey! It’s all good! (But the other, Where Wildflowers Grow by Ha Dinh is not due until June 2023. Nurtz!)
Read via Edelweiss
