Sometimes, she feels more like a submarine than a mermaid, but she wonders if she could be both. People often underestimate her swimming skills when they see her stomach rolls, but she knows better than to worry about what people think. Nat grew up the youngest in a house full of boys, so she knows how to fight for what she wants, often using her anger to fuel her. The problem? Her activist mom and professor dad think it's a sport with too much emphasis on looks-on being thin and white. The LA Mermaids performed, emerging out of the water with matching sequined swimsuits, and it was then that synchronized swimming stole her heart. Kirkus Review 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. Booklist 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.” - Publisher’s Weekly starred review “ A body-positive story of growing up that’s sure to make a splash.” “Rivera’s layered, sparkling middle-grade debut is Julie Murphy’s Dumplin’ (2015) by way of Lisa Fipps’ Starfish (2021).”
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