A New York Times Book Review Best Children's Book of 2022
The award-winning and beautiful story of a child coping with her
father's absence. The book tackles a difficult subject with great
tenderness, validating a child's experience of a parent suffering from
depression.
"This poignant, gentle book . . . will be immensely helpful to anyone
caring for the child of someone with major depression. It fills an
important gap in literature for young children."--Andrew Solomon, author
of The Noonday Demon (winner of the National Book Award) and Far From
the Tree
Zoe's dad isn't home. She still sees him in photographs, laughing and
playing tennis, but for now she can only visit him in a building where
everyone looks sad and the walls are an ugly pink color. Some days Zoe's
dad is too sad to see her, but she goes to the hospital anyway. While
waiting she meets Sabina who invites her to swim across the world. Zoe's
not sure it's possible, but Sabina tells her, "A girl can do everything
she wants." Even though Sabina sometimes dives deep into her own
thoughts, the two of them swim around the world many times that summer,
until eventually Zoe's dad is ready to come home.
The Summer of Diving is a book full of imagination and hope with a
tender child's-eye understanding of the world. Stridsberg's story and
Lundberg's lush and colorful paintings reflect and validate a child's
feelings of loss and longing for closeness when a parent's joy for
living temporarily fades.
