Swim, Little Wombat, Swim!

Today Ned and I started swimming lessons again after a rather long absence. Although we have been to the pool as a family and splashed around, Ned was not sure about the water today at all.

This afternoon I dug out a book for us to read together called Swim, Little Wombat, Swim! by one of my favorite illustrators, Charles Fuge. Little Wombat has the most amazing expressions and is such a loveable little character.

In this book Wombat meets Platypus and has a little giggle at him because he looks funny and walks differently. When wombat falls in the stream Platypus rescues him and begins to teach him how to swim.

‘That afternoon, Little Wombat learnt to paddle like a dog…and dive like a frog!

The real centre of the storyline is friendship and accepting others differences but it is also a great book for introducing children to the concept of swimming and being taught to swim. Fuge’s illustrations are so expressive that they clearly show little ones the confidence and joy that Wombat gains from Platypus teaching him swimming skills.

There is a beautiful bind up edition of all the Wombat stories currently available called The Adventures of Little Wombat.

Another gorgeous book about swimming for older children is the picture book The Deep written by arguably Australia’s best storyteller, Tim Winton, and beautifully illustrated by Karen Louise. This book is about the ocean rather than a pool. The main character is Alice who despite living by the sea is scared of the ocean, the deep. Her brothers and sisters love the sea but Alice is afraid of what she can’t see beneath the surface. I can really relate to this book as I too am not sure about the sea and have never been quite comfortable in it but just as Alice finds sometimes you can just let yourself relax and discover its beauty.