SWIMMER: Everyone Needs a Best Friend - Softcover

Savitz, Harriet May

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0595339506 ISBN 13: 9780595339501

Publisher: iUniverse, 2005

Synopsis

Skip loves swimming in the ocean. It's the perfect place to sort things out. Since his father moved away, he and his mom have been taking care of their big old boardinghouse alone. A whole summer of changing light bulbs and running errands for the tourists. Then skip meets swimmer. The big friendly dog swims with him every morning. Swimmer doesn't have an owner and Skip wants him. He's the only friend Skip has had all summer. But Skip can't take Swimmer home because his mom won't let him have a pet at the house. One thing is certain, though. Skip is not going to desert his dog. He needs Swimmer just as much as Swimmer needs him.

About this title

About the Author:

Harriet May Savitz has had children?s books published by John Day, Thomas Y. Crowell, New American Library, Franklin Watts, Scholastic, and Avon Books. Her book, Run, Don?t Walk was an ABC Afterschool Special produced by Henry Winkler. She is a recipient of the PSLA Outstanding Pennsylvania Author Award-and contributor to the Chicken Soup Series.

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.

About this edition

• Publisher: iUniverse
• Publication date: 2005
• ISBN 10: 0595339506
• ISBN 13: 9780595339501
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 98