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You may know your ABCs, but do you know The ABCs of Swimming?

This colorful, fun-filled book will teach you about swimming terminology, aquatic gear, and safety equipment, as well as provide tips for staying safe in the water.

There is a special piece of swimming apparel hidden among the sea creatures on each page. Can you find it?

Buy Books

Click the image of the cover above to buy a paperback

Order online at Amazon, Barnes & Noble or Indiebound
or order it at your local bookstore!

Paperback: $16.95

Hardcover $29.95

Kindle $8.99

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“I absolutely love spending time in the pool with my daughters. Now, with The ABCs of Swimming, we can bond over swimming outside of the pool as well!”

—Nathan Adrian
World Champion Swimmer; Cancer Survivor; 
Men’s Health Advocate; Husband, Father

The Creators
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The Creators

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Kelly (McEvoy) McKesten (Co-Author) is a lifelong swimmer and aquatics enthusiast. She can often be found swimming laps in her town’s community pool, jumping over ocean waves, doing cannonballs off a diving board, sliding down a waterslide, soaking in a hot tub, jumping into a cold plunge, relaxing in a salt float, tubing across a lake, or meandering down a lazy river. The ABCs of Swimming is her first book.

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Joseph E. McEvoy (Co-Author) believed that the swimming pool should be open like a library: from dawn until midnight, a place that wants you to swim in it. He earned his doctorate degree in physical education from Springfield College in Massachusetts. For more than twenty years, he coached swimmers and divers of all ages and abilities, instilling in them the same infectious love for the sport that he had. He is also the author of Fitness Swimming: Lifetime Programs and Swim Your Way to Fitness

Joe McEvoy
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Maddie Schwimmer

Maddie Schwimmer (Illustrator) started swimming on the local summer team at six years old and continued loving the sport through their collegiate swimming career. After graduation they couldn’t keep away from the pool and returned as a swim coach. They strive to keep the swimming pool an inclusive, diverse, and welcoming community space. Maddie is a self-taught artist and this is their first book.

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The Story

The Story Behind the Book

I started writing this book with my dad in 1993.  


At the time, Joe McEvoy was a college swim coach and aquatics director, and he’d written two books about fitness swimming. I was a ten-year-old kid who loved to swim and draw. We started keeping a notebook with our ideas; he knew all the swimming terminology and I loved drawing pictures in the margins. When he died later that year, our notebook went into a box of keepsakes. I’d pull it out from time to time over the years and flip through the pages, always wishing we had been able to finish our book. 
           
Now, thirty years later, I have two kids of my own who are learning to swim. Inspired by their love of the water, I reached back into that box for my dad’s old notebook, and I finished writing our book. Then I was lucky enough to be introduced to Maddie Schwimmer, a talented artist who happens to be a swim coach, and who brought our story to life with beautiful illustrations.

My dad used to answer his phone by saying, “It’s a great day to take a swim.” My hope is that this book will help kids (and adults) find the same joy in swimming that he instilled in me, as well as his students and our family, all those years ago.  
               

Kelly (McEvoy) McKesten
 

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