Let's Go Swimming With Mr. Sillypants by M. K. Brown

32 pages. Crown, 1986.

Mr. Sillypants (who wears baggy, bright blue pants with a green and red plaid pattern) has just registered for a swimming class, and finds himself with lots of worries. He makes himself a silly sandwich, worries some more, and goes to bed. He dreams of falling into the water. In his dream, at first, he panics, but then he turns into a fish. Creatures that look a little like the pickles in undersea sandwiches, with olives for eyes, attack him. He's saved by the bell - of his alarm clock - and wakes up confident that everything will be all right in his swim class. In fact, it is fine, even though he's the only adult. This story shows a way to use imagination to be amused by your fears about swimming lessons, which seem quite manageable and ordinary after all the weirdness of Mr. Sillypants' dream.

Ages: 4-7
Cultural Context: multicultural