The underworld is filled with wonder
Liquid luster
Treasure to plunder

Plunge! A day at the pool is filled with fun. Dunking and splashing. Bumping and laughing. Handstands, somersaults, deep dives, and magical moments full of light. And through it all, the bubbles float to the surface—nose bubbles, mouth bubbles, ear bubbles, rear bubbles—all rising UP!

An everyday visit to the community pool is transformed into an unforgettable celebration of the world underwater, where always and forever bubbles…rise…UP!

Illustrated by Sonia Sánchez.

Age Range: 4–8
Grade Level: Preschool–3
Hardcover: 32 pages
Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books; HarperCollins (May 4, 2021)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0062836617
ISBN-13: 978-0062836618

REVIEWS 

★ Booklist, starred review

May 2021. 32p. HarperCollins/Katherine Tegen, $17.99 (9780062836618). PreS–Gr. 3

A community swimming pool provides the setting for this upbeat picture book featuring a girl who loves the water. Accompanied by her mother and little brother, who sit at the water’s edge, the girl plunges in, swimming downward while bubbles rise up around her, as irrepressible as her pleasure in exploring this wondrous space. She looks so at home, despite the fact that activities as common as sitting, talking, and standing become strange underwater: “You under-sit. / You under-talk. / You under-smile. / You somersault. / You under-stand. / You under-handstand. / You. / You understand.” Thunder rumbles, emptying the pool until the storm passes. Then the girl plunges back in, rescuing her brother’s rubber duckie and playing with friends. Creating the mood as well as the story’s structure, Davies’ cascading lines of verse text read aloud beautifully, rewarding listeners with wordplay. Suggesting rather than defining the story, the text leaves space for Sánchez’s effervescent illustrations to work their magic. The imaginative underwater scenes are particularly fine. This high-spirited picture book, an excellent counterbalance to the many that deal with young children’s fears of deep water, celebrates the joy that many kids find in swimming and water play. A mesmerizing book that conjures up a summer day.

★ Kirkus, starred review

Review Issue Date: April 1, 2021 / Online Publish Date: March 17, 2021

 A swimming pool and a young swimmer create watery magic together. 

Davies’ lighthearted, lively bit of poetry describes the singular joy of an afternoon at the neighborhood pool in this celebration of underwater swimming and splashing. “PLUNGE! / under / under / under,” reads the text as a child with black hair and light brown skin and a colorfully striped one-piece bathing suit dives and floats and soars underwater. “Bubbles…UP!” A younger, lighter-skinned little person wearing floaties and orange swim trunks stays by the poolside with an adult while a crowd of children with many different hair types and colors of skin splashes and shouts in the pool. Sánchez’s illustrations capture the way sunlight ripples through water over blue-patterned tiles and convey the blissful freedom of weightlessness, diving to the bottom of an imaginary ocean world and rocketing to the top amid bubbles. A brief thundershower clears the pool, and everyone huddles near the snack bar—but when the all-clear sounds, it’s back to the water. There’s a dramatic rescue of a rubber duck: “You are fast…/ —aqueous— / A watery dolphin, all flash and fin.” There’s cuddling—for a moment—in a towel after, and then back to the water where the smaller child joins in the fun at last. The exuberant sense of being purely in the moment is delightful. (This book was reviewed digitally with 11-by-17-inch double-page spreads viewed at 19% of actual size.)

Superbly splashy, immersive, and effervescent. (Picture book. 3-7)

★ School Library Journal, starred review

DAVIES, Jacqueline. Bubbles...Up! illus. by Sonia Sánchez. 32p. HarperCollins/
Katherine Tegen. May 2021. Tr $17.99. ISBN 9780062836618.  

K-Gr 2–A community pool is a place of wonder—mouth, nose, or ear bubbles all rise through water, filled with light. A small pink-skinned girl gives readers the tour, to follow the bubbles up until you break the surface, and dive back in. All in the pool celebrate life under water. One can under-sit, under-talk, under-stand, or complete an under-handstand. Similes communicate the motion amid bubbles “light as butterflies,” as the girl urges her body up to “surface like a porpoise” and “shoot like a rocket ship.” Families of all races play in the water as text and word placement highlight movement in digital paintings with swirls of dark and light-filtered color. Descriptive verse text with a scribble of clouds capture a bubble-filled watery world. It’s easy for swimmers to dream and imagine the pool filled with saltwater depths of treasure before an ominous rumble announces a thunderstorm. The interruption provides both a visual downpour and an alliterative storm of words, and soon, everyone is back in the water. VERDICT A recommended first purchase for all libraries, this title will interest readers who love the world underwater, or those who recognize the freedom and confidence borne of immersive play.–Mary Elam, Learning Media Services, Plano I.S.D., TX.

AWARDS AND LISTS 

Selected by Barnes & Noble as a Bookseller’s Favorite

Selected by Barnes & Noble for their Virtual #BNStorytime (premieres July 31, 2021)