WHAT I THINK ABOUT WHEN I THINK ABOUT SWIMMING

A goldfish’s thoughts swim with the big—and not so big—questions of life.

“When I am swimming, I think about many things,” begins the introspective narrator of indeterminate gender. While swimming inside their fishbowl, they recall being a baby fish hanging in a plastic bag in a pet store; ponder “what it will be like to be old”; and reminisce about “days out” on the ocean and other fish who have crossed their path. They also think about past brushes with “monsters” (the artwork shows a cat); wonder “what it would be like to have legs”; fret about climate change; and—the authorial disguise wearing even thinner—light up with an idea for a book. The book’s back flap mentions that the fish thinks about “falling in love,” but it is not clear exactly where this pans out in the narrative. Levenson’s text is elegantly spare. The goldfish pictured in O’Hagan’s minimalist, mostly close-up illustrations is expressive of both face and body language, gazing longingly out of a window, for instance, and, in one scene, posing on a rock like Hans Christian Andersen’s Little Mermaid. Adults can use the spread showing the fish floating inside a light bulb to introduce the concept of metaphor to children. Young readers will relate to the fish’s penchant for daydreaming and will also find common ground (so to speak) in the wry capper: “But mostly all I think about is…dinner.”

A poignant, existential, yet kid-friendly slice-of-(fish)-life story with a splash of humor.