Book Discussion Guide

Swimmy by Leo Lionni

Swimmy

Have you ever felt different? Where Swimmy lives, he is the only fish that isn’t red. He also swims faster than all of the other fish. Then Swimmy is the only fish to survive an attack from a bigger fish, leaving him all alone. He sets out on his own to find a new school of fish and along the way learns a lot about the ocean around him. You will be rooting for Swimmy as he uses his new knowledge to help his new friends. Your family will enjoy watching this small fish grow in big ways. Leo Lionni uses a variety of painting methods to create colorful images that will catch your child’s attention as you read about Swimmy’s adventures. Children will relate to Swimmy’s unique attributes and will learn that differences are often strengths!

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Questions To Talk About
While Reading

Vocabulary

It's important to make sure that your child has an understanding of key words in the book. Talking about words while reading is a great way for your child to learn new words.

In this book, you might talk about these words:

  • fierce (pg. 1)
  • invisible (pg. 3)
  • school (pg. 5)

You might use a question like:

In the book, what does the word fierce mean? How does the image help you understand the
word?

Key Ideas and Themes

In addition to words, it's important to talk about key ideas and themes and how they develop over the course of the book.

Here are some examples to get you started:

  • 1

    At the beginning, the book talks about how Swimmy is different from other fish. See if your child can name some of his differences.

  • 2

    Events leave Swimmy all alone. Talk about how he responds to his new situation.

  • 3

    After Swimmy finds the new school of fish, he says, “Let’s go and swim and play and see things!” What does this show you about his point of view of the things he saw on his journey?

  • 4

    Swimmy’s new friends fear big fish. Talk about how he responds to their fear. How does the story come to an end?

  • 5

    Swimmy changes throughout the story. See if your child can point out ways he changed and parts of the story that show his changes. Talk about what can be learned from Swimmy’s transformation.

Extra Activities

  • 1

    The illustrations in Swimmy support the ideas in the text and often add more details to the story. As you reread the story together, stop on each page and discuss the author’s choices in images. Think about the colors, shapes, and pictures he chose to use and ask, “How do the pictures add to the ideas in the text?”