In September 1984, Lisa Paul, an American college student living in Moscow and working as a nanny, enters Inna Meiman’s house for her first Russian language lesson. And so begins a two year friendship and fight for Inna’s life. Swimming in the Daylight chronicles Inna’s struggle to shed her refusnik status and to be granted a visa to travel to America, seeking medical treatment for the cancer that is slowly killing her. Inna reveals an indomitable spirit as she endures a perverse reality as a citizen of the Soviet Union—she must deny invitations from countries in the West to receive life-saving cancer treatment due to her inability to receive a visa from her own government. This refusal, Inna explains to Lisa, is the Soviet authorities’ way of persecuting her and her husband Naum, a member of the Moscow Helsinki Watch Group fighting for human rights in the USSR. Spurred by outrage and the desire to help her friend, Lisa returns to the United States, vowing to do all she can to get Inna out of Moscow. Lisa stages a hunger strike, holds a press conference, and galvanizes American politicians to fight for Inna’s freedom. All these efforts eventually succeed in pursuing Mikhail Gorbachev to issue Inna a visa in December 1986, and she finally steps foot on American soil. At a time when international strife seems insurmountable and worries at home seem to paralyze, this story will teach people everywhere that it is the courage inside that defines a person and can change the future.

There is always some part of the world where human rights are trampled and oppression quashes the human spirit. In the 1980s, it was the Soviet Union. In Swimming in the Daylight, Lisa Paul, a Catholic-American student living in Moscow in the early ’80s, details how she grew to understand the perverse reality of the pre-Gorbachev Soviet regime as her friendship with her Russian-language tutor, Inna Kitrosskaya Meiman, blossomed. Inna, a Soviet-Jewish dissident and refusenik, was repeatedly denied a visa to receive life-saving cancer treatment abroad. The refusal was an apparent punishment imposed on both her and her Jewish husband, Naum, for his participation in the Moscow Helsinki Watch Group—the lone group fighting for human rights in the U.S.S.R. Before Lisa returned to the United States, she promised Inna she would do all she could to get her out of Moscow. But Lisa was one person, what could she possibly do that would make a difference? Inspired by her faith and rights as an American, Lisa staged a hunger strike, held press conferences, and galvanized American politicians to demand Inna’s immediate release. In this heartfelt, compassionate, and inspiring narrative, Lisa brings the reader along with her as she learns indelible lessons from her heroic teacher. Inna’s greatest lesson—that it is possible to swim through treacherous waters, in daylight, not in despair—is as relevant today as it was during the final years of the Soviet regime. At a time when international strife seems insurmountable and worries at home seem to paralyze, this story will teach people everywhere that it is the courage inside, not the chaos outside, that defines us.

Swimming is a very important skill! Pool Day shares the experience of a young girl learning to swim and overcoming her fears about being in water. Despite feeling frustrated, she builds courage to face her worries with the encouragement of her family who help her to build confidence to achieve her goals!

Mo is going swimming in the perenially popular, Geisel Award–winning readers series by David A. Adler, now with a fresh look! It's Field Day at summer camp and Mo's group, the Guppies, is competing for extra ice cream! He and his friends are doing their best at everything from the three-legged race to the potato sack race, and as the day nears its end, each group has won one medal each. It's all on Mo to break the tie in the final event: swimming!

Lynne Cox has set open water swimming records across the world, and now she has focused her decades-long experience and expertise into this definitive guide to swimming. Open Water Swimming Manual provides a wealth of knowledge for all swimmers, from seasoned triathletes and expert swimmers to beginners exploring open water swimming for the first time. Cox methodically addresses what is needed to succeed at and enjoy open water swimming, including choosing the right bathing suit and sunscreen; surviving in dangerous weather conditions, currents, and waves; confronting various marine organisms; treating ailments, such as being stung or bitten, and much more. Cox calls upon Navy SEAL training materials and instructors’ knowledge of open water swimming and safety procedures to guide her research. In addition, first-hand anecdotes from SEAL specialists and stories of Cox’s own experiences serve as both warnings and proper practices to adopt. Open Water Swimming Manual is the first manual of its kind to make use of oceanography, marine biology, and to weave in stories about the successes and failures of other athletes, giving us a deeper, broader understanding of this exhilarating and fast growing sport.

Rhythmic text and humorous illustrations combine to portray Lucy at the beach with her family. Chasing after her brother Simon and cousin Sandi, jumping off rocks onto the sand, and splashing endlessly in the sea, Lucy's about to find out how much fun a day in the sun can be.

Since before the turn of the twentieth century, ocean swimmers have had aspirations of "Swimming the Light". The route chosen by these early adventurers, and dreamers, went from the bridges in Charlestown to the Boston Light, on Little Brewster Island, in the outer Boston Harbor, a distance of twelve miles. In 1907, a Boston Light Swim Race was inaugurated. Of the twenty-seven swimmers who dove in at the Warren Bridge in Charlestown that year, not one succeeded in touching the shore of Little Brewster Island. The very first known, and documented, swimmer to succeed in reaching Boston Light from Charlestown was Alois Anderle, in the Boston Light Swim Race of 1909. Anderle was 40 years old and a native of Austria, then living in New York City. His time was 5 hours, 40 minutes. Once other swimmers learned from Anderle's success that this marathon swim was possible, others followed with successful swims to Boston Light. Even though victory became more common after 1909, however, most of the contestants still failed to stay the whole course. In fact, of 435 starters of the Boston Light Swim Races between 1907 and 1941, 363 failed to reach the Light, most defeated by the cold and choppy water, and the seemingly endless distance involved. This book covers the Boston Light Swim Races for the years 1907 through 1941. After the race in 1941, the event was shut down for the duration of the war. Even though World War Two ended in 1945, the swim was not restarted until 1976, when Boston marathon swimmer, Jim Doty, took it upon himself to reorganize it. The Boston Light Swim Race continues, alive and well, to the present day. The percentage of contestants finishing the grind nowadays is much higher than that of the early era. This may be attributed to several factors, not the least of which is the shortening of the course to eight miles. Other factors may include: a greater knowledge of tides, currents and other conditions; the evolution of more efficient swimming styles and strokes. The swim is considered an excellent test for the aspiring English Channel swimmer. The conditions of both swims are similar, with cold and choppy water. The two main differences are the shorter distance, and the scarcity of stinging jellyfish in the Boston swim. Nevertheless, many swimmers have based their decision to make the trip to England upon their experience in the Boston Light Swim. Neither swim is a test for the faint of heart, and the simple attempt at either one is, in itself, a significant measure of success.