Ally is a young girl with a rather unusual situation. Rather than living with her ma, she lives with her Gram and great-aunt, spending summers with her aunt and uncle who live near her ma, and that's when she gets to see her. Ally doesn't really know her mother, and has all sorts of questions about her. During the visit they get to go swimming together, with seals. At the end, readers get to learn the meaning behind the story, and it brought tears!

This story is a good lesson for children regarding different family structures. We don't know why Ally doesn't live with her ma, but there are numerous reasons why she may not My own cousin lived with us for several years because her ma was not well enough to take care of her. My cubs and I enjoyed the story, though it felt lacking at times. The artwork is gorgeous!

***Many thanks to Netgalley and Orca Publishing for providing an egalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

This story evokes both happy and sad emotions. Ally is a young girl who is not able to live with her mother so she lives with her gram and great-aunt. In the summer, she travels to her aunt and uncle's where she is able to visit with her mother. We do not know why she does not live with her mother which actually opens this book up to discussion. When Ally and her mom get together they do not connect well, until they find out that they both love to swim. The day they spend on the boat and swimming gives them wonderful memories of swimming with the seals. This is a good book to use with students to discuss families that are different, as well as the help children share feelings if they do not live with one of their parents for whatever reason. The illustrations in this book were gorgeous with beautiful colours and vivid, realistic pictures. I loved the muted underwater scenes. A great book for family, school and public libraries. The publisher generously provided me with a copy of this book via Netgalley.

“Swimming with Seals” was a beautiful story once I read the afterward. I wish a little bit more of the backstory had been in the book. I did like how it ended similarly to how it started. Unfortunately, I wasn’t a fan of the art.

Fantastic children's book! Well written with compassion and caring. Illustration are fabulous.

“When her mom hugs her tight, Ally’s arms hang straight down at her sides.” This story is about a girl named Ally who is not able to live with her mother so she lives with her gram and great-aunt. One summer she gets the opportunity to go stay with her aunt and uncle where she gets to spend some time with her mother. This was a touching story that pulls at your heart strings. We don’t know why but Ally is unable to live with her mother and throughout the story she continually asks questions about her mother’s likes and dislikes. Ally’s mother is like a stranger to her and the disconnect between the two is evident when they meet. I like that this book was unconventional in that the main character did not have a typical family dynamic. It is a great book for all to read to understand that not all families are the same and great that students in a similar situation can relate to. The illustrations in this book were exquisite with beautiful colours and vivid, realistic pictures. This book can be easily used in the classroom for language arts, science (sea animals), social (geography), and health (family dynamics).

This book can be read on two levels. It can read on the level of the child's view, which is how it is written. That the child lives away from her mother, and wants to see her again, and see how they could do things together. We don't know why the mother isn't there. She is somewhere nearby, where the child visits, and so, they get to swim together. And then she has to go back home again.

On that level, it is a sweet book about things that the mother and daughter share.

But the other level, the one the book was based on, is about a girl who never got to swim with her mother, only to know that she did swim. The mother dies, somehow, we are never told how, and the girl has memories. And this book made her feel, at least for the moment, that she did get to swim with her mother and the seals.

So, both a sad and happy story.

Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review.