Waiting to Dive

Anne Hutchings, a former elementary-school teacher-librarian with the
Durham Board of Education, is an educational consultant.

Carly loves to dive. She’s a natural at it and before long is asked to
join the prestigious Dolphin Diving Club. Everything seems to be going
her way. She’s slowly getting over the loss of her dad and adjusting
to life with her stepdad and new siblings, Marly (sounds dorky teamed
with Carly) and Shane.

Then one summer weekend everything changes. Carly and her best friends,
Montana and Sam, are practising their dives at the cottage when disaster
strikes. After one last dive, Montana doesn’t surface. Pulled from the
water by Carly’s stepdad, Montana is rushed to hospital. Her back is
broken.

Told in Carly’s own words, the story conveys her fear and worry that
she is not a good person, her guilt in having fun diving when Montana is
lying in hospital with a steel rod in her back, her loneliness in
starting back to school without her best friend. The author’s
depiction of Carly and her emotions is realistic and interesting. The
ending, though we realize that things will never be totally the same, is
satisfying and hopeful.

Junior grade swimming and diving enthusiasts will find Waiting to Dive
an enjoyable read. Recommended.