Synopses & Reviews
A powerful true poetry memoir for anyone who has navigated the troubled waters of childhood and adolescence searching for a way to stay afloat, now in the new POINT.
Unfolding in a series of exquisite narrative poems, this is the haunting true story of a tragic summer in a young girl's life. Annie is supposed to be having a carefree summer -- but instead she must face the unwanted advances of an older boy in the neighborhood, who threatens her if she tells. It isn't until Annie's mother pries out the secret that Annie is released from her horror and isolation and can slowly begin to heal.
Synopsis
Unfolding in a series of exquisite narrative poems, LEARNING TO SWIM: A MEMOIR is a haunting true story about a tragic summer in a young girl's life. With startling power, it juxtaposes the beautiful summer Annie is supposed to have -- picking blueberries with her mother, playing with her brothers, learning to swim with her father -- with the terrible secret she is forced to harbor. For under the pretense of reading to her, an older boy in the neighborhood is molesting her, and threatening her if she ever tells. It isn't until Annie's mother pries out the secret that Annie is released from her horror and isolation and can slowly begin to heal. And before the summer is over, she will even learn to swim.