Learning To Swim [Hardcover]

Ann Turner (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 2000

A series of poems convey the feelings of a young girl whose sense of joy and security at the family's summer house is shattered when an older boy who lives nearby sexually abuses her.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Ann Turner's lyrical Learning to Swim will resonate with any adult or teenager who knows the shame and confusion of sexual molestation. Her memories of a family summer vacation keep coming back "like a skunk dog / on the porch / whining to get in." For Turner, telling her story to the world is what sets that skunk dog running. Divided into three sections, "sailing," "sinking," and "swimming," the book chronicles a holiday trip through the eyes of a very young girl--small enough to use a pink swimming ring in Dresser's Pond, play dress-up, and run races. It's Kevin, an older boy from down the street, with the "hands that grab," who takes her upstairs under the pretense of reading to her ("a secret time for us / and never, ever tell"), and she doesn't even know she can say no. In searingly simple language, Turner walks us through the little girl's forever-altered world, past the place where the truth comes out and healing can begin. (Ages 13 and older) --Karin Snelson

From Publishers Weekly

Using spare vignettes laid out like poetry, Turner (Nettie's Trip South) recalls the summer she was six years old, when she was sexually abused by a neighbor. Convincingly assuming a child's voice, the narrative blends Annie's routine activities such as playing with dolls and swimming lessons with darker images of the neighbor boy's transgressions (the boy "telling me to touch him/ in a hard, breathless voice, and I didn't even know/ I could say/ no"). Because Annie lacks the vocabulary to describe what is happening to her, it is her actions that most often imply her emotions (she draws an angry picture, she brushes her teeth five times a day, she tries to hide). Turner also describes Annie's painful longing to confide in someone (she says of her father, "I wish my words/ were smoke/ he could breathe in") but she is silenced by fear of what the neighbor boy's might do if she tellsAuntil Annie's mother extracts the truth. Throughout the volume, the narration shifts, sometimes addressing the reader, a few times her abuser; sometimes speaking in the immediate present and others recalling the recent past. The narrative itself may be at times disjointed, but the emotional truth comes through clearly. If older readers can get past the youth of the narrator they will likely appreciate the poetic voice and courage of the heroine. Ages 12-up. (Oct.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 12 and up
  
• Hardcover: 128 pages
• Publisher: Scholastic Press; 1st edition (October 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0439153093
• ISBN-13: 978-0439153096
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.3 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.1 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,679,212 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I was born in a small town in Western Massachusetts to creative parents who always encouraged my writing and painting. I went to Bates College, majored in English, and spent a wonderful year abroad in Oxford, England, giving me a taste for neat Scotch, Evensong, and very old churches and buildings. I've been married long enough to break all records and have two grown children. I am especially drawn to telling stories about outsiders, rebellious girls, and people who don't fit in--as I didn't growing up. I was always a bit too loud, too passionate, moved too fast, made up too many stories, and thought that life moved just a tad too slowly for me. I love to cook, garden, swim, pet my wild Jack Russell terrier, talk to friends and my "kids," and laugh at my husband's wild, original stories. I also actually answer letters and emails sent to me by fans, and when I do school visits, I tell people--"Don't ever let anyone tell you you can't do it!"

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "Telling is what matters", October 12, 2000

By 

Teresa L Postlethwait (Antrim, NH United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Learning To Swim (Hardcover)

My first introduction to Ann Turner was in Dr. David White's Children's Literature course at Keene State College in New Hampshire. During the course I'd read Dakota Dugout, Nettie's Trip South and Katie's Trunk, all of which beautifully detailed the emotions and struggles of that time. An additional project was to read a realistic fictional book about a social issue then provide feedback regarding how the author dealt with the reality of the issue. After reading my paper on child sexual abuse in children's literature where I divulged my own victimization as a child , Dr. White advised me that Ann Turner was releasing her book, Learning to Swim: A memoir.

I just received Ann's book from Amazon.com and in less than one hour rode her rollercoaster of emotions. One narrative to which I felt extremely close to was the following titled, Time to make a mess. "I took the garbage the whole pail and dumped it on the porch kicking the grapefruit against the stones grinding the coffee grounds into the hot boards. Someone shouted someone yelled I do not care it is time to make a mess." As a middle school student, I was feeling this same emotion. While I never told anyone of my experience until this past year, I was fortunate that my junior high school teachers had noticed a change in my behavior, one of self-destruction. Had Ann's book been available at the time I was dealing with my issue, it would have provided me with the support I needed to speak out, or as Ann says "Telling is what matters".

As an aspiring elementary/middle school teacher, I will be sure to provide "Learning to Swim" as a resource to all of my students so that they will know, no matter how hard it is to talk about sexual abuse, it is better to deal with it and talk about it. Thank you Ann for being brave enough to write your poems not only for you own healing, but the healing of many others dealing with this same, sad issue!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars If I were you I would read this good book!!!!!, March 14, 2002

A Kid's Review

This review is from: Learning To Swim (Hardcover)

laerning to swim is a good book ,I've never read any thing like it ,It's a different kind of book. It's based on a true story. It's about a little girl who goes away with her family on a vacation, to their summer house by a river. Some thing is happening to one of them and that something is mot good.
If I had the time I would read it again. It's now one of my favorite books. I would recommand that you read it. It is only 113 pages , but by the way that it is written you will fly through it ,because you wont want to put it down.It's so good that when you'r reading it you can picture the whole story in your head and see whats happening as you read it . So if I were you I would read it.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Unfolding Trial, July 31, 2001

By 

Toby Sanders (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Learning To Swim (Hardcover)

Captured in narrative verse, this memoir chronicles one summer in the young girl's life. It captures the turmoil, fear, and anger of a young child forced to harbor a secret forced on her by the boy who lives down the road. The verse makes the shame of her ordeal accessible to a wide variety of readers: both adults and young adults. It paints a picture that everyone should see and brings to light the situation that everyone must be willing to acknowledge. In this case, as in

others, silence cannot be tolerated.