3.5
Barely Floating
ByPublisher Description
A dazzling story full of heart about how one twelve-year-old channels her rage into synchronized swimming dreams, from the author of The Education of Margot Sanchez and Never Look Back, Lilliam Rivera.
Natalia de la Cruz Rivera y Santiago, also known as Nat, was swimming neighborhood kids out of their money at the local Boyle Heights pool when her life changed. The L.A. 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, 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. Sometimes, she feels more like a submarine than a mermaid, but she wonders if she could 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.
Natalia de la Cruz Rivera y Santiago, also known as Nat, was swimming neighborhood kids out of their money at the local Boyle Heights pool when her life changed. The L.A. 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, 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. Sometimes, she feels more like a submarine than a mermaid, but she wonders if she could 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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3.5

MediaMiss
Created about 1 month agoShare
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mars
Created about 2 months agoShare
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Emily
Created 3 months agoShare
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rae
Created 5 months agoShare
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“12-year-old Natalia de la Cruz Rivera y Santiago known as Nat by her friends and family. She fell in love with synchronized swimming after seeing The LA Mermaids perform but unfortunately her parents think it’s a sport that only focuses on looks, so Nat lies and goes behind their backs to join the team while at the same time having to manage her friendship while surviving the difficulty of training.
Lilliam Rivera just made me fall in love with another masterpiece of a middle grade book that presents an unapologetic, brave character. I read reviews of people saying that they don’t stand the lying. Well i hate to break it to you but this is a book about a 12-year-old kid and it shows how realistic a relationship children have with their parents at that age.
It also spoke about the reality of what a kid like Nat has to endure while chasing her dreams. She’s not a perfect character for sure, but she’s trying her best.
She was written so well that her character development is focused on how to be a better person, not only for other people but for herself, especially in this topic of how she handles her anger and not to stay away from getting help even at that young age.
The racist, fatphobic, and sexist beauty standard in sports still exists, and I like Rivera’s way of tackling it.
Also, the way synchronized swimming was written makes me really happy—the details, the technique, the costume. CHEFS KISS”

KionaRedHawk
Created 6 months agoShare
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About Lilliam Rivera
Lilliam Rivera is an award-winning writer and author of the young adult novels Dealing in Dreams, The Education of Margot Sanchez, Never Look Back, We Light Up the Sky, and the middle grade novel Goldie Vance: The Hotel Whodunit. Her work has appeared in the Washington Post, the New York Times, and Elle, among others. Her novel Never Look Back is slated for an Amazon movie adaptation.
Other books by Lilliam Rivera
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