Swimmer (Apple Paperbacks) [Paperback]

Harriet May Savitz (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1986 | Age Level: 8 and up

While her friends head for the amusement park, Karen is left to mourn her lack of money, until she discovers a lucky penny and ultimately a lesson about the value of money.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 3-5 Every summer ten-year-old Skip and his family move out of their big beach front home to make room for summer boarders. This summer is a particularly bad one for Skip; his parents are getting a divorce. When he finds a lost retriever that he names Swimmer, he begins to feel some purpose in his life. Unfortunately pets are not allowed at the boarding house, so Skip spends some frantic weeks hiding his dog in an abandoned house nearby. Torn between his mom and his dad, Skip feels he can trust no one and vows to stick by his dog at all costs. A bout with the flu and the demolition of Swimmer's secret hideout prove to Skip that he can and must believe in people again. Somewhat formulaic (boy finds dog, loses dog, finds dog and true happiness) and marred by some weak writing (Skip does too much explaining of his actions), the story still manages to be a pleasant period-of-adjustment tale. A possible choice for reluctant readers as an addition to such excellent dog-child stories as Theodore Taylor's The Trouble with Tuck (Doubleday, 1981), Anne White's A Dog Called Scholar (Viking, 1963), and Frederick Gipson's classic Old Yeller (Harper, 1956). Elisabeth LeBris, Kenilworth Public School System, Ill.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 8 and up
  
• Paperback: 89 pages
• Publisher: Apple (September 1986)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 059033946X
• ISBN-13: 978-0590339469
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 5.2 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,875,568 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars A smart kids' book!, October 26, 2005

By 

Anna M. Ligtenberg "AnnaLovesBooks" (Chicago) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Swimmer (Apple Paperbacks) (Paperback)

ISBN 059033946X - Summers aren't the usual vacation for Skip, whose family runs a boarding house in a small oceanside town. Every June, his family packs up and moves out, living in a small bungalow, while visitors take over their home. If he resented them before, this year is the worst yet. His father has left them and his older brother is in the service; that leaves just Skip and his mother to do all the work, for guests who seem to him to take advantage.

Lonely and trying to understand what's happened to his family and the life they'd shared, he meets a new friend at the beach - a golden retriever that he names Swimmer. He can't bring Swimmer home, because his mother doesn't allow pets in the house, so he takes care of Swimmer secretly by hiding him in an abandoned house. This works out fine, until one morning when Skip wakes up to discover they're tearing that house down around his dog!

This is a nice book, worth reading for the kids - especially those whose parents aren't together. And all kids will look at their own chore list a little differently when they see all the work Skip has to do to help keep the boarding house going.

- AnnaLovesBooks