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Learning to swim is a childhood rite of passage. But for some youngsters, taking the initial plunge is scary. Two good books will help comfort those in the same situation and maybe even encourage them to dip a toe or two into the water.
"The Boy Who Wouldn't Swim," by Deb Lucke, takes place during a summer so hot that everyone in town practically lives at the community swimming pool: "There wasn't a person in Clermont County who didn't have prune toes."
Only Eric Dooley sat sweating on a chaise lounge, afraid to get in the pool.
No amount of coaxing from his mother, his pals or even a kindly adult friend who throws a nickel into the water and says, "Finders, keepers," will budge Eric from the chaise.
He's a humorously pitiful figure, a blow-up giraffe around his waist, trying to ignore the cool fun.
The worst comes when his younger sister, Jessica, gets to take over the swim lesson meant for him. He watches miserably during June as she progresses...
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