By Jamie Sumner
Illustrated by Devon Holzwarth
Atheneum / Simon & Schuster, 2026
32 pages
9781-6659-4257-7
Ages 3-7
A close-up of a toe dipping in the water is followed by goggle adjustment, sitting on the pool edge, and finally a splash of water fountaining from the narrator’s exuberant immersion. “Under here, there is no top or bottom, no left or right—only fields of water to wander in as topsy-turvy as I like.” Imagining themself as a starfish, catfish, seahorse, and snail, the brown-skinned child revels in a swim-therapy session. Out of the water, they are a “rock-star roller” in their wheelchair, while in the pool their body “wriggles in a different way.” Their swim coach helps them move safely with guiding touches when needed in a book that emphasizes the joy and freedom of movement experienced in the water while also crediting their independent mobility in a wheelchair. The pleasure this child feels moving both above and below water is amplified by imaginative and kinetic illustrations and a celebratory voice: “Under here, like up there, I can be silly and free. Wherever I might be… there is something magical… about a fish like me.”