Barely Floating, Lilliam Rivera
Barely Floating, Lilliam Rivera
List: $20.00 | Sale: $14.00
Club: $10.00

Barely Floating

Author: Lilliam Rivera

Narrator: Victoria Villarreal

Unabridged: 5 hr 46 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 08/29/2023


Synopsis

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 The Author

Lilliam Rivera is an award-winning writer and author of the young adult novels Dealing in Dreams, The Education of Margot Sanchez, Never Look Back, We Light Up the Sky, and the middle grade novel Goldie Vance: The Hotel Whodunit. Her work has appeared in the Washington Post, the New York Times, and Elle, among others. Her novel Never Look Back is slated for an Amazon movie adaptation.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Bookishrealm on June 10, 2024

I hate that I waited so long to get to this one! It was such a fun read. CW: physical altercations, microagressions, violent outbursts, homophobia. Barely Floating by Lilliam Rivera is unlike any middle grade that I've read before in that it presents to a readers a lead character that doesn't fit int......more

Goodreads review by Shannon on July 27, 2023

This was a big-hearted middle grade novel featuring Nat, a 12 year old fat Latina girl with an anger management problem. After a few too many violent outbursts, Nat tries to find better ways to manage her anger (including meditation and swimming). She's immediately drawn to the synchronized swimming......more

Goodreads review by Mary on May 19, 2023

A great middle grade book emphasizing the importance of balancing responsibilities and interpreting activism in your own voice. As the protagonist struggles with being reactionary, she also has to balance school, friends, and her chosen sport of synchronized swimming. She shows that balancing differ......more

Goodreads review by J. on September 26, 2023

This book had such potential -- and it hit some, and left some hanging. I believe that the story took on too many difficult topics and therefore didn't have time to juggle them all fairly. I feel the relationship between Nat and Julia had so many bumps that were not addressed. Overall a good read th......more

Goodreads review by Rachel on April 04, 2024

2.5 ⭐️s What I enjoyed: the main character, the humor, the plot, the writing style. What I didn’t enjoy: if there is one thing that absolutely drives me insane in a book, it’s being preached to. Granted, this is more subtle than Barnhill’s brand of sermons, but man, the author really has a gripe agai......more


Quotes

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 California Center for the Book - 2024 Great Reads from Great Places list
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
2025-2026 Land of Enchantment Book Award Nominee (New Mexico)




“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