Boy Underwater

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What to expect

SELECTED AS WATERSTONES BOOK OF THE MONTH
SHORTLISTED FOR THE CARNEGIE AWARD

A heart-breaking, heart-warming novel for everyone of 10 and older – this book will probably make you cry, and will definitely make you laugh.

Cymbeline Igloo (yes, really!) has NEVER been swimming

Not ever. Not once.

But how hard can it be? He’s Googled front crawl and he’s found his dad’s old pair of trunks. He’s totally ready.

What he’s not ready for is the accident at the pool – or how it leads his mum to a sudden breakdown.

Now, with the help of friends old and new, Cymbeline must solve the mystery of why his mum never took him near water – and it will turn his whole life upside down…

‘A wonderful story, moving and funny’ – Ross Welford

Critics Review

  • ‘An absolute corker of a tale, whose delicate themes – mental health, missing loved ones – are handled with fluid grace’ Observer

    ‘This poignant novel is about love and loss, but, told from the viewpoint of a child too young to grasp all that grown-ups do, it is also funny. With evocative monochrome illustrations, it bears you up as soon as you plunge in’ Sunday Times, Children’s Book of the Week

    ‘Involving and wryly funny, full of tenderness, eccentricity and intriguing meditations on the function of art, this story of grief, depression and the different facets of identity is well-served by Benji Davies’s thoughtful illustrations’ Guardian

    ‘The witty humour and dialogue are the perfect foil to the unresolved grief and anxiety that underpin this impressive debut’ Daily Mail

    ‘Adam Baron has a light touch and brings humour to difficult subjects. So, why not come in? The water’s lovely’ The Times Children’s Book of the Week

    ‘Baron’s children’s debut is funny and easygoing, complemented by lively black-and-white illustrations from Davies’ Publishers Weekly

    ‘Adam Baron has successfully maintained a delicate balance between comedy and tragedy and there are scenes that will have children laughing aloud, as well as others that will leave many readers in tears’
    Books for Keeps, Children’s Book of the Week

    ‘Boy Underwater is one of those rare books that manages to be both very funny and heartbreakingly sad’ LoveReading4Kids

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