To the Pool with Mama

Steve Pitt is a Toronto-based freelance writer and an award-winning journalist. He has written many young adult and children's books, including Day of the Flying Fox: The True Story of World War II Pilot Charley Fox.

“Today is Friday. It is the day I go to the pool. ‘Pool, pool,
pool,’ I say. I pull my swimsuit from the dresser. Mama helps me put
them in my backpack. Mama walks with me to the place that has the pool.
When we get to the change room, she wants me to take off my clothes and
put on my swimsuit. I want to close all the little closets. I go inside
one. I fit just right. ‘Mama! Mama!’ I say. Mama opens the closet
where I am hiding. I say ‘Boo!’ ‘Eeeek!’ Mama says. She helps me
jump out. ‘Come on,’ she says. ‘You have to get into your swimsuit
now.’”

There is a certain beauty to a good story, simply told. This tale, by
Sue Farrell, is exactly what the title says: a day at the local
community pool narrated from a young tyke’s point of view. Farrell’s
prose deftly captures the pure joy a toddler can wring out of packing a
beach bag, playing hide and seek, puddling about a kiddie’s pool, and
even standing in front of an electric hair dryer.

Like the story, the illustrations, by Robin Baird Lewis, are also from
a youngster’s perspective. Although Lewis’s panels are highly
entertaining, the lack of racial diversity among the characters
doesn’t reflect Canadian society today, giving the paintings an
unintended retro–1950s look. Despite this one flaw, the overall effort
is quite pleasing. Recommended.