SINK OR SWIM

Camp was going to be amazing for Tyler de Lugo and his best friends, Max and Heather Allen, in this stand-alone follow-up to Just Roll With It (2021).

But then Ty broke his arm and missed an entire season as captain of the swim team. Afterward, Ty ghosted the siblings, so their arrival at Silver Falls is fraught with hurt feelings. Ty, who has brown skin and wavy black hair, can’t bring himself to go in the water, let alone participate in a swimming competition. Yet camp also brings Ty a new group of friends and advice from a quirky counselor. He hunts for bugs and develops an interest in tabletop role-playing games. Ty, along with Max and Heather, who have light skin and red hair, take on the challenge of building a canoe from scratch. All these experiences buoy him as he feels like he’s drowning, but Max’s forgiveness is still in question—and so are the feelings of Ty’s secret crush. Agarwal’s loose designs and casual, sketchy, bright style express both poignancy and humor, and her characters’ facial expressions are adorable. Ty’s overwhelming feelings of depression are shown by waves washing over him and blurred text in speech bubbles. After his injury and subsequent weight gain, Ty’s self-loathing is clearly evident, but readers may be left wanting a stronger impression of who he is outside of his struggles.

Earnest summertime adventures and lessons on self-love.