Heavy Medal Mock Newbery Finalist: SWIM TEAM by Johnnie Christmas
Introduction by Heavy Medal Award Committee Member Kate McCarron
Perfect for fans of NEW KID and GUTS, the graphic novel SWIM TEAM by Johnnie Christmas hits the mark. Although the focus of a Newbery is on the words, Johnnie Christmas does an amazing job of combining words and illustrations, making it a complete package. It’s hard not to immerse yourself in the beautiful illustrations and beautiful blue hues of the swimming pools.. It will have middle schoolers jumping right in!
The novel opens up with Bree’s move from Brooklyn to Florida. It is obvious that she and her dad have a comfortable, joking relationship. Readers will instantly relate to Bree’s worries about making new friends. It seems everyone in town is awash in the glory of the prestigious Holyoke school and its domination in competitive swimming. Bree finds instant friendship in Clara who helps her navigate the halls of a new public school. Of course, one is not surprised when the puzzle elective is filled and Bree must sign up for the dreaded Swim 101. Here is where her panic and anxiety come in. Bree grapples with her fear of swimming and must come clean with her friends that she cannot swim. I love how Christmas uses thought bubbles that are heavily outlined like cement to illustrate the weight of the self-doubt that Bree feels. Many kids will relate to feelings of anxiety and self-doubt.
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In an exchange with Keisha and Tinsley it’s easy to root for Clara, Humberto and Bree as the private school girl berates everything from their school, their clothes and their swimming. Bree even is swaddled with the unfortunate nickname “Kiddie Pool.” However it’s not that clear cut and the water gets murky as they witness Keisha getting cut from the Holyoke team. Now they must accept her as their new teammate.
Although it seems as if the Manatees are in an impossible match versus Holyoke, one cannot discount the determination and support the team gets from their community. This is where Ms. Etta, a former swimmer and Bree’s neighbor plays an important part in teaching not only the mechanics of swimming but a real history lesson. She dispels the misconception that blacks cannot swim by highlighting the truth about discrimination that prevented blacks from using many pool facilities. As teammates bicker, you wonder if they are going to repeat history and let their differences stand in the way of success.
This book has you cheering for the underdog team! Graphic novel enthusiasts will be drawn to the cover but hopefully they will leave with what’s embedded in the pages-a lesson of integrity as well as a history lesson. It is never too late to do the right thing and stand up against injustice.
If you’ve ever had a fear of trying something new, this is a must read. Even if you’ve never dipped your toes in the water, this story of middle school friendships is for everyone. Johnnie Christmas writes from the heart as he too experienced a near drowning experience in his younger years. I hope to see more from Johnnie Christmas.
Heavy Medal Award Committee members and others are now invited to discuss this book further in the Comments section below. Please start with positive observations first; stick to positives until at least three comments have been posted or we reach 1:00 pm EST. Let the Mock Newbery discussion begin!
Filed under: Book Discussion, Heavy Medal Mock
About Emily Mroczek-Bayci
Emily Mroczek (Bayci) is a freelance children’s librarian in the Chicago suburbs. She served on the 2019 Newbery committee. You can reach her at emilyrmroczek@gmail.com.
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Thank you Kate for your introduction! I can see Swim Team being a big hit with the students at my school. I thought the way that Johnnie Christmas taught the reader about the history of discrimination and segregation as it impacted Black people learning how to swim was really well done. It started with Bree making the statement that, “Black people aren’t good at swimming.” Etta, her neighbor and mentor, explains that swimming is an art that has been handed down for generations. Segregration laws and lack of access prevented Black people from learning how to swim, and like Etta said, “so knowledge was scattered. Like a jigsaw puzzle with missing pieces.” Not knowing how to swim wasn’t Bree’s fault. In few words (along with the images of the puzzle pieces), Christmas is able to instruct readers with a very important and relevant lesson. The way the information was presented was clear and to the point for young readers. I read this article (https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/04/us/segregation-nile-swim-club.html) last summer and think it would be a good source for students and adults who want to learn more. Christmas also recommends a books as well in the back section.
I too thought the puzzle motif was clever and liked how the panels that were filling in the gaps of Bree’s knowledge were depicted as jigsaws that were partially completed.
The theme of friendship is what sticks out most to me in this book: how friendships can seem easy but there’s two sides to every story. And the power of forgiveness which Miss Etta models.
Emily -I agree. Friendship is definitely a theme integral to the story. Additionally, the theme of community and inclusiveness is strong. We have several communities-the apartment complex where Etta befriends Bree, the school communities and then the larger community where Etta convinces the Coach to include the swimmers from Holyoke to celebrate the swim season together.
Themes like friendship, community and also perseverance are great for this age group. The cement-like outlines of Bree’s negative thoughts that you mentioned were so effective. I read it with the hope that somebody reading it would realize that we all have negative thoughts — and they do feel like cement — and sometimes you have to fight hard to tamp them down, just as Bree did.
Kate, thank you for the introduction. I agree that this book is relatable to kids and really draws out the middle school experience, especially worries about making new friends at a new school, grappling with fears, anxieties and self-doubt. The gray thought bubbles were genius!
I agree this book has many strong themes: friendship and the power of forgiveness as Emily stated, and community and inclusiveness as Kate stated. I think the theme of the importance of problem solving through perseverance and teamwork is strong, as Christmas shows through the symbolism of the puzzle pieces.
What stuck out for me was the inequities in schools as far as programs, training and facilities as was pointed out on pages 159-162. Bree did not know what a diving block was as her school did not have one, and she needed a crash course on it at the swim meet.
Christmas does an excellent job of weaving relevant social issues and culture (presented through food) into the plot in this beautifully illustrated graphic novel.
It’s sometimes hard (for me at least) to evaluate graphic novels in a Newbery context. The Criteria direct the committee to look “primarily at the text.” SWIM TEAM shows how visuals can work as text very well, while developing characters, themes, and information. One example is the bold-lined word bubbles that show Bree’s self-doubts in the first half of the book. Those pop up frequently, but eventually she fights through them. We see that the illustrations as words of doubt float away for good during her first successful swim (p 112). Another good example: When Ms. Etta tells Bree about the history of Blacks and swimming, those parts are set against a jigsaw puzzle background. (p 79). And that background returns on the very satisfying last page (p 246). In both cases, the choice of where to put words on the page enhances their impact. Those choices seem like they must have come from the author, rather than the illustrator, which makes them relevant in a Newbery discussion. (I know, author and illustrator are the same person in this case…)
The jigsaw pages stuck out to me immediately, and have stuck with me since. I had never seen that topic broached so succinctly in a children’s book–maybe even any book–and thinking about how years of discrimination manifested in the underlying micro and macroaggressions in the book and the stereotypes was so thoughtfully done. I agree it’s hard to separate a graphic novel, but thinking about what made NEW KID a winner helps with this one!
Thank you for this analysis, Steven! I really struggled to separate the images from the text as well but this explanation helps a lot.
I agree that the anxiety thought bubbles were handled very well in the illustration and definitely feel like a deliberate choice on the part of the author. Especially as her anxiety isn’t rendered as a dark shadow or creature, like in JUST ROLL WITH IT. That makes me lean more towards them falling in line with the Newbery critera.
Steven,
Thank you so much bringing this up! I have been re-reading this title and now find myself looking at how Christmas uses visuals and visual clues to give the reader information. Your examples of the bold-lined word bubbles and the puzzles really illustrate how these design decisions become text in a way and really impact the meaning of the story. I was thinking about in the beginning how Christmas establishes important points like their move and the father/daughter relationship. He uses a combination of word balloons, captions that describe scene (always in blue) and captions providing narration (always). These visual elements (even down to the color of the captions), becomes information that is important to reader. I will be continuing to look at this text through a bit of a different lens. Thanks for bringing this up, Steven.
The presentation of information really stood out to me as excellent in SWIM TEAM. Ms Etta’s explanation of the discrimination she faced as a child at swimming pools and when she teaches Bree how to swim both convey information in such a way that it enhances the story rather than feeling like a clunky insert.
I also enjoyed the pacing of the plot but some parts felt unfinished or one dimensional — mostly Bree’s relationship with her father. The book starts with a strong emphasis on their routine and shared interests but as the story progressed I felt like the dad’s character became more of an after thought. When he doesn’t show up to any of her swim meets, we’re left assuming that he’s just busy but then the real reason comes out that he also doesn’t know how to swim and…I don’t know. I wanted more there. More resolution, more conversation that focused on that conflict, more of how her dad’s confession and previous absence made Bree feel/think.
With that said, I did love the last scene of Bree teaching him to swim, I just wish their relationship had been developed a little more based on the first impression we get of them in the first few pages.
I agree that the relationship with the dad is a problematic element; it seems to be forced in order to meet the author’s thematic intention about racism. Upon rereading I felt like when she was choosing classes, he could have been involved in that decision and there could have been a scene there or when she was skipping school because she couldn’t swim, there could have been a more developed scene there. Bree’s relationship with her dad stands out because all of the other relationships are more easily understood and more fully developed.
I agree, as well, that Bree’s relationship with her dad felt like forced conflict. There wasn’t enough time spent on the page showing us, the readers, how their relationship was changing and what effect that had on Bree. And then the reveal that he didn’t know how to swim felt like it came out of nowhere.
Great intro, Kate. I loved that this book addressed the history of racism and swimming pools head-on, in a way that felt natural and not like a lecture. As I read SWIM TEAM, I thought of TWINS by Varian Johnson and NEW KID by Jerry Craft, as well as MARSHMALLOW & JORDAN by Alina Chau and STRANGE BIRDS by Celia Perez. There’s such a nice balance between home and school life, friends and family, and the themes of friendship, teamwork, inequality, and forgiveness – as others have mentioned – are nearly universal for the middle grade age group. This attractive graphic novel is thought-provoking as well – a mirror for some, a window for others.
I was rereading SWIM TEAM this afternoon during my school dismissal duty and had over a dozen children tell me how much they loved it or asked if it was available in the media center. (It’s checked out–I was reading my personal copy.) I think of all the books we are discussing, this one has the most shelf appeal for children and not just because it is a graphic novel. The themes of this story feel so universal and I have not had a single student read it and not absolutely adore it.
I thought the subject matter of the inequality between the two schools was also handled really well. There are small moments sprinkled throughout that really illustrate the point.
Reading through the comments on our “Black Bird, Blue Road” discussion, there were a few people that brought up a question with the prose, and (to paraphrase) if it’s possibly to simple to be considered for Newbery. Here I would consider positing the same question, but for the illustrations. If we are considering illustrations, which again is a committee-by-committee decision and interpretation of the rules that I imagine changes yearly, I would say that the artwork is definitely effective, but simple. More importantly, I found it inconsistent. Some scenes are very well done, while others are less so in my opinion. And character models seem to vary drastically, meaning one character will just not look at all like they did just a few frames before. Possibly that was a stylist choice, but it’s something I would bring up.
That’s a good point, Peter! I think this works super well as a graphic novel, but I’m also not thinking it’s a Caldecott contender. I think where this excels is in using the graphic novel format alongside the prose and the themes and presentation of information, but I can also imagine this being an effective prose novel with more fleshing out, if that makes sense!
I totally agree on the inconsistency, Peter. The cover is beautiful and some other pages stood out. But there were times when I was taking a long time to study the characters to make sure I had the right one in mind.
The question of the sparse prose in Black Bird, Blue Rose and quality of the illustrations in this one are foremost in my mind as I’m knee deep in How to Build a Human…
A couple swimming things were a little odd. Like I don’t think middle school state championships are really a thing? Just having a crosstown rival was plenty—it didn’t need the championship or the threat of losing the pool.
The other is the “Anchor” nickname for the side character. I was sooo confused, because being the anchor is a good thing! in a relay, whether swimming or running, the anchor is the person assigned to the last leg. And they’re usually the best one, to bring it home and make up for anyone slower in the middle. So I was very confused by the nickname and then kept expecting it to pay off, like someone finally explains that to her and she embraces being the anchor or something.
I think she does end up embracing it! On page 218 Jaime says to her “Or maybe it’s because you’re the anchor of the team, keeping everyone in good spirits, even during the toughest training sessions. You keep the team from drifting apart.” In the next chapter on page 221, she ends up having a little tattoo of an anchor and you can see that she’s proud.
I do not know much about swimming and I agree it would have been great if it could have been a little more related to swimming. I think being a middle school girl who is a little bigger surrounded by friends who are much smaller and having the nickname anchor is going to be hard because there are going to be some kids who do not mean it in a nice way. I liked Anchor’s character and I think Christmas does a good job of showing how the side characters grow, which seems harder in a graphic novel.
That’s true—if anchor didn’t already have a meaning within swimming, that transition would work for me, but it just felt very strange to be working on a relay and it never coming up!
I like this book and also see the similarities with New Kid though I prefer New Kid. I liked hearing about the pool segregation bit that’s not a type of segregation I’d thought about. Though it was an enjoyable read I also felt that parts of it seemed a bit unrealistic. I find it especially hard to believe someone would go from being scared to swim to being good at swimming in such a short amount of time. I’m scared of swimming too and couldn’t imagine likeing it. This is another book were the illistrations help the story. It’s hard to separate text from illistration. I think this is a good book but not Newbery level.
Ellen, I really enjoyed reading SWIM TEAM , but agree that it seemed a bit unrealistic. I too found it hard to believe someone would go from being scared to swim to winning a state championship in such a short time, unless that person is extremely talented with natural abilities.
I also thought thought the swim coach from Holyoke Prep was so one dimensional. I only saw her has mean and heartless (page 139) as an example. Coming from the field of teaching, I cannot imagine that she would stay employed at a school environment for very long.
I enjoyed this book, but I agree with you that it is unrealistic. I think this made the pacing of the book seem off as well. It should have taken Bree longer to become so good at swimming and that fact that she got so good so fast made me think think I had miss something or that there was a bigger time jump than there was.
I seem to be the only who keeps bringing up Chad Sell here every time he puts out a new graphic novel, but I think DOODLEVILLE: ART ATTACKS is magnificent. Arguably his best work yet from a technical standpoint (which is saying something) by which I guess I mean the clarity, cleanness, and efficiency of style in which everything is expressed in all criteria — characters (so many different characters, clearly delineated without feeling one-dimensional, because all feel human and all are sympathetic), lovingly-established settings (though admittedly the illustrations do heavy lifting here) which also excels in information presentation (re: the artwork and museum), a clean and satisfying (though admittedly traditional) plot that integrates a number of sincerely-held themes (which adults may find unsubtle, but hey that seems to be the thing this year.)