Swim Team

Swim Team is a 2022 middle-grade graphic novel by Johnnie Christmas. The novel centers on Bree, a young Black girl starting over at a middle school in Florida, where she reluctantly joins the swim team. In doing so, Bree must confront her fears about swimming, friendship, and disappointing her father. The story also addresses the history of segregation and access to public swimming facilities. Swim Team appeared on the National Book Award longlist, was a Coretta Scott King Award Illustrator Honor Title, and was nominated for a Harvey Award.

Christmas has also worked on the Image Comics series Tartarus and Crema, adapted the screenplay for Alien 3 (2019) into a graphic novel, and collaborated with Tamra Bonvillain on Firebug (2018).

This guide refers to the 2022 graphic novel edition published by HarperAlley, an imprint of HarperCollins.

Plot Summary

Bree and her father, Ralph, move from New York City to Florida. For the car ride to their new home, Ralph gives Bree a new puzzle to solve, and she’s determined to finish it. On their journey, Ralph mentions the butterfly effect, explaining that seemingly small actions can have significant consequences. Bree also thinks about how she feels about moving, and dark gray thought bubbles begin appearing around her, listing off her fears. She is primarily afraid of sports, swimming pools, and never making any new friends.

When they arrive, Bree meets Etta, an older woman who lives above them. She also meets a girl her age named Clara and learns that they’ll go to the same school, Enith Brigitha Middle. On the first day of school, Clara gives her a tour. Bree goes to sign up for a special elective and finds that swimming is the only class available. She is afraid because she doesn’t know how to swim, but she has no other choice. The next day, she tells the coach she feels ill and goes to the nurse’s office. She begins skipping class.

Bree also grows closer with Clara. One day in the park, a student from Holyoke Prep, the private school whose swim team competes against Bree’s school, comes over to brag about their swim team. When she jokes that Bree probably can’t even swim, Bree is embarrassed, accidentally confirming the student’s suspicions. Afterward, Clara tells Bree that it doesn’t matter and gives her a friendship bracelet.

When Bree is caught skipping class, her dad signs her up for swim lessons at Holyoke. However, the lessons go poorly, and she is teased. She tries to skip class again and leaves the school building. When she arrives at the apartment complex, she accidentally falls into the pool. Etta dives in and saves her. Bree then asks Etta to teach her how to swim.

Etta agrees, and on the day of their first lesson, Bree notes that Black people aren’t good swimmers. Etta explains that there is a long tradition of swimming in the Black community and that segregation restricted access to pools. When segregation formally ended, discrimination persisted, and many public pools became private to keep African Americans out.

Their first swim lesson is a success, and they begin going regularly. Bree feels like learning one step at a time makes her less nervous. Bree’s training ends when she learns to tread water in the deep end.

Bree has a C in swim class. To earn extra credit, she tries out for the swim team and wins the tryout races, surprising everyone—including herself. Clara is also on the team, and Bree meets Phillipa. At their first swim meet, Bree comes in third in her race, placing ahead of a swimmer from Holyoke Prep. Etta agrees to help coach the team, having been on the Enith Brigitha swim team when she was in middle school. Ralph does not come to the meet.

The next day, Clara learns that she was accepted into Holyoke Prep, but she doesn’t tell Bree.

With Etta joining the team as a coach, they begin practicing more. After their next swim meet, they stop at a diner, but Etta stays on the bus. Keisha joins the team, having been kicked off the Holyoke Prep team when she lost to Bree at the first swim meet. At the third competition, they encounter diving blocks for the first time, and the coach and Etta must quickly explain how to use them.

After the meet, Keisha and Phillipa have a tiff at practice, and Etta reminds them that a team must work together. Bree, Clara, Phillipa, and Keisha decide to sneak into Holyoke Prep and study their strategy. One of the rival swimmers spots them and teases them. Bree stands up for her team, and then the swim coach forces them to leave. The coach tells Clara that she shouldn’t be sneaking into schools because she’s lucky to have gotten into Holyoke Prep. Everyone fights on the way home, and Bree feels hurt that Clara didn’t tell her about transferring.

When they go to the regional swim meet the next day, everyone is tense. Bree wins her race, but she decides to quit the team, giving Clara her friendship bracelet back. At home, her dad sees how mad she is, and she confronts him about not coming to see her races.

The week before the state championship, the hall monitor at school confesses to Bree that she didn’t know how to swim either and that Bree inspired her. Bree finishes the puzzle her dad gave her when they moved. After dinner, he confesses that he doesn’t know how to swim. He thinks she should rejoin the team or at least stay friends with her teammates. Bree also has an epiphany and realizes why Etta kept mentioning her own swim team. Bree insists that they go to the bank, where they find Yvette, who was on Etta’s swim team. They also visit Jamie, another member of Etta’s swim team.

Yvette explains that when they were younger, their team was close. One day, another teammate, Mari, invited them to a pool in a different neighborhood. Mari, who is white, was allowed to enter, but the security guard stopped Etta, Yvette, and Jamie, who are Black. Mari continued inside, finding other friends. Then, she quit the swim team, letting them down and preventing them from competing in the relay race during the state championship.

They still go meet Mari, and Jamie, Yvette, and Mari all go see Etta. At first, Etta is mad at Mari, but when Mari apologizes, Etta accepts it, and they become “swim sisters” again (211). Bree also reconciles with her friends. At swim practice that day, Etta’s swim team joins them, as they have offered to help train Bree’s team.

Bree and her friends win the state championship, and both Bree’s and Etta’s swim teams go for ice cream to celebrate. Clara assures Bree that they’ll still be best friends. The novel concludes with Bree teaching her father how to swim.