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Barely Floating by Lilliam Rivera
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Teacher’s Guide

Barely Floating

By Lilliam Rivera

By Lilliam Rivera

By Lilliam Rivera

By Lilliam Rivera

By Lilliam Rivera

By Lilliam Rivera

By Lilliam Rivera
Read by Victoria Villarreal

By Lilliam Rivera
Read by Victoria Villarreal

Best Seller
Paperback $8.99

Aug 27, 2024 | ISBN 9780593323137 | 9-12 years

Hardcover $17.99

Aug 29, 2023 | ISBN 9780593323120 | 9-12 years

Ebook $8.99

Aug 29, 2023 | ISBN 9780593323144 | 9-12 years

Audiobook Download $20.00

Aug 29, 2023 | 347 Minutes | 9-12 years

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    Barely Floating by Lilliam Rivera
    Audiobook Download
    Aug 29, 2023 | ISBN 9780593503553 | 347 Minutes

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    • $8.99

      Aug 27, 2024 | ISBN 9780593323137 | 9-12 years

      Buy from Other Retailers:

    • $17.99

      Aug 29, 2023 | ISBN 9780593323120 | 9-12 years

      Buy from Other Retailers:

    • Aug 29, 2023 | ISBN 9780593323144 | 9-12 years

      Buy from Other Retailers:

    • Aug 29, 2023 | ISBN 9780593503553 | 9-12 years

      347 Minutes

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    Buy the Audiobook Download:

    About Barely Floating

    A dazzling story full of heart about how one twelve-year-old channels her rage into synchronized swimming dreams, from the author of The Education of Margot Sanchez and Never Look Back, Lilliam Rivera.

    Natalia de la Cruz Rivera y Santiago, also known as Nat, was swimming neighborhood kids out of their money at the local Boyle Heights pool when her life changed. The L.A. Mermaids performed, emerging out of the water with matching sequined swimsuits, and it was then that synchronized swimming stole her heart.

    The problem? Her activist mom and professor dad think it’s a sport with too much emphasis on looks—on thinness and whiteness. Nat grew up the youngest in a house full of boys, so she knows how to fight for what she wants, using her anger to fuel her. People often underestimate her swimming skills when they see her stomach rolls, but she knows better than to worry about what people think. Sometimes, she feels more like a submarine than a mermaid, but she wonders if she could be both.

    Barely Floating explores what it means to sparkle in your skin, build community with those who lift you up, and keep floating when waters get rough.

    About Barely Floating

    A dazzling story full of heart about how one twelve-year-old channels her rage into synchronized swimming dreams, from the author of The Education of Margot Sanchez and Never Look Back, Lilliam Rivera.

    Natalia de la Cruz Rivera y Santiago, also known as Nat, was swimming neighborhood kids out of their money at the local Boyle Heights pool when her life changed. The L.A. Mermaids performed, emerging out of the water with matching sequined swimsuits, and it was then that synchronized swimming stole her heart.

    The problem? Her activist mom and professor dad think it’s a sport with too much emphasis on looks—on being thin and white. Nat grew up the youngest in a house full of boys, so she knows how to fight for what she wants, using her anger to fuel her. People often underestimate her swimming skills when they see her stomach rolls, but she knows better than to worry about what people think. Sometimes, she feels more like a submarine than a mermaid, but she wonders if she could be both.

    Barely Floating explores what it means to sparkle in your skin, build community with those who lift you up, and keep floating when waters get rough.

    About Barely Floating

    A dazzling story full of heart about how one twelve-year-old channels her rage into synchronized swimming dreams, from the author of The Education of Margot Sanchez and Never Look Back, Lilliam Rivera.

    Natalia de la Cruz Rivera y Santiago, also known as Nat, was swimming neighborhood kids out of their money at the local Boyle Heights pool when her life changed. The L.A. Mermaids performed, emerging out of the water with matching sequined swimsuits, and it was then that synchronized swimming stole her heart.

    The problem? Her activist mom and professor dad think it’s a sport with too much emphasis on looks—on being thin and white. Nat grew up the youngest in a house full of boys, so she knows how to fight for what she wants, using her anger to fuel her. People often underestimate her swimming skills when they see her stomach rolls, but she knows better than to worry about what people think. Sometimes, she feels more like a submarine than a mermaid, but she wonders if she could be both.

    Barely Floating explores what it means to sparkle in your skin, build community with those who lift you up, and keep floating when waters get rough.

    About Barely Floating

    A dazzling story full of heart about how one twelve-year-old channels her rage into synchronized swimming dreams, from the author of The Education of Margot Sanchez and Never Look Back, Lilliam Rivera.

    Natalia de la Cruz Rivera y Santiago, also known as Nat, was swimming neighborhood kids out of their money at the local Boyle Heights pool when her life changed. The L.A. Mermaids performed, emerging out of the water with matching sequined swimsuits, and it was then that synchronized swimming stole her heart.

    The problem? Her activist mom and professor dad think it’s a sport with too much emphasis on looks—on being thin and white. Nat grew up the youngest in a house full of boys, so she knows how to fight for what she wants, using her anger to fuel her. People often underestimate her swimming skills when they see her stomach rolls, but she knows better than to worry about what people think. Sometimes, she feels more like a submarine than a mermaid, but she wonders if she could be both.

    Barely Floating explores what it means to sparkle in your skin, build community with those who lift you up, and keep floating when waters get rough.

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    About Lilliam Rivera

    Lilliam Rivera is a MacDowell Fellow and an award-winning author of eight works of fiction: four young adult novels, three middle grade books, and a graphic novel for DC Comics. Her books have been awarded a Pura Belpré honor and… More about Lilliam Rivera

    About Lilliam Rivera

    Lilliam Rivera is a MacDowell Fellow and an award-winning author of eight works of fiction: four young adult novels, three middle grade books, and a graphic novel for DC Comics. Her books have been awarded a Pura Belpré honor and… More about Lilliam Rivera

    About Lilliam Rivera

    Lilliam Rivera is a MacDowell Fellow and an award-winning author of eight works of fiction: four young adult novels, three middle grade books, and a graphic novel for DC Comics. Her books have been awarded a Pura Belpré honor and… More about Lilliam Rivera

    About Lilliam Rivera

    Lilliam Rivera is a MacDowell Fellow and an award-winning author of eight works of fiction: four young adult novels, three middle grade books, and a graphic novel for DC Comics. Her books have been awarded a Pura Belpré honor and… More about Lilliam Rivera

    Product Details

    Category: Children’s Middle Grade Sports Fiction

    Paperback | $8.99
    Published by Kokila
    Aug 27, 2024 | 240 Pages | 5-1/16 x 7-3/4 | 9-12 years | ISBN 9780593323137

    Category: Children’s Middle Grade Sports Fiction

    Hardcover | $17.99
    Published by Kokila
    Aug 29, 2023 | 240 Pages | 5-1/2 x 8-1/4 | 9-12 years | ISBN 9780593323120

    Category: Children’s Middle Grade Sports Fiction

    Ebook | $8.99
    Published by Kokila
    Aug 29, 2023 | 240 Pages | 9-12 years | ISBN 9780593323144

    Category: Children’s Middle Grade Sports Fiction | Audiobooks

    Audiobook Download | $20.00
    Published by Listening Library
    Aug 29, 2023 | 347 Minutes | 9-12 years | ISBN 9780593503553

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    Praise

    PRAISE FOR BARELY FLOATING:

    Booklist Best Books of 2023 (Editor’s Choice)
    Kobo Best Books of 2023 (Kids)
    2024 Rise: A Feminist Book Project List (Middle Grade: Fiction)
    2024 Bank Street Best Children’s Books
    The Latinidad List Best Latino Books of 2023
    First Partner Summer Book Club (First Lady of California, Jennifer Newsome, initiative)
    2025 Rhode Island Latino Book Award Masterlist


    ★     “Rivera’s layered, sparkling middle-grade debut is Julie Murphy’s Dumplin’ (2015) by way of Lisa Fipps’ Starfish (2021). . . . Display this empowering novel with Esther Williams’ classic Million Dollar Mermaid.”
    —Booklist, starred review
     
    ★     “Rivera brings a freshness to a conventional middle-grade story with flowing prose that effortlessly captures the complicated and often conflicting emotions of being a tween, especially one who has to face microaggressions for being fat, brown, Latina, and not rich.”
    —The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books, starred review
     
    ★     “In laugh-out-loud, blunt prose, Rivera cultivates a touching and unapologetically positive interpretation of one tween’s desire to break the mold.”
    —Publishers Weekly, starred review

    “A body-positive story of growing up that’s sure to make a splash”
    —Kirkus Reviews

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