Leo Can Swim

This is a cute little story about Leo going to the pool to swim. Leo loves the water and had a lot of fun learning to swim. With cute illustrations, this story is adorable. Children who are going to learn to swim, head off to a pool or may be reluctant to get in a bathtub, would be great candidates to be introduced to Leo in this story. I wish it had touched on a little bit about how to get over fear of the water, but all in all a cute read.

We read this book tonight and my kids both loved it!! My older daughter has been a bit scared of doing swimming lessons again and I think this book was a good step in trying to convince her to get back to the pool :) The pictures are fantastic too!

Leo loved baby time, and now he loves swimming class, too! This winning series excels at breaking down common toddler and preschool activities into discrete steps without feeling didactic or dull. Leo's new swim classes feature a realistic array of caregivers and children at a typical pool. They splash, sing, play, and get their bodies ready for early swimming readiness. The round, smiling babies, and the loving caregivers come in all skin colors, and there are some age differences, too, among the caregivers. There's also a mix of men and women splashing with the babies.

This is a great choice for anyone on the brink of swimming lessons with a small child, but it's also good fun for lap reading or group sharing at any time.

As others have mentioned, it's an abrupt ending--whether intentionally or prematurely cut off in the eARC is an unknown.

Loved this very sweet picture book about Leo (Lola's little brother) who is learning to swim with his daddy. Short sentences, gorgeous pictures, this one is a real winner!

So cute! I loved the illustrations and the story. The ending seemed a bit abrupt, but the book was great in general.

This book is adorable. You can feel the personality of the little boy coming off of every page. The illustrations are wonderful. This is definitely on the top of my to-buy list.

This review will be published on 5/23/16.

Quick Booktalk In his latest adventure, Leo, little brother of Lola from Lola Loves Stories and Lola Loves the Library, and star of Leo Loves Baby Time, joins a swim class with his dad.

About the Illustrations As in Leo Loves Baby Time, artist Ruth Hearson uses soft colors and warm, cheerful faces to illustrate Leo's story. The pictures show diverse parent/child pairings - moms and dads, with boys and girls - enjoying themselves at swim class. The pages alternate between close-ups of Leo and his friends and group scenes of the babies going "swish and swoosh" and "splish and sploosh" in the pool, and later, washing off and heading out for a snack. The art perfectly suits the text, and the target age group, who would certainly enjoy looking at these images during story time.

Read-Aloud Possibilities The straightforward text is very easy to read aloud, and it works nicely as an introduction to swim class for young children about to attend for the first time. Its focus on father/son bonding, make it a perfect choice for dads to read aloud to their babies, and also a good option for Father's Day story times.

Readers Advisory This book is a great fit for this summer's On Your Mark, Get Set, Read! theme. It will appeal to fans of the previous Leo book, as well as to any family taking an infant to swim lessons this summer.

Leo can swim is another great story from Anna McQuinn.