We must have Olympic fever because we begin with a brief history of the global games, which, from the beginning, always included swimming. Then, we dive into a small but mighty masterpiece by Julie Otsuka, The Swimmers. This is a book about routine. Comforting routine and unmindful routine. It is about what happens to us when we lose our routines. It is about who we are within the groups we form and who we are as individuals. It may also be about disruption and death. Judge for yourself.

You just boarded a flight to New York. There are one hundred and forty-three other passengers onboard. What you don’t know is that your pilot’s family was kidnapped thirty minutes before the flight. For his family to live, everyone on your plane must die. The only way the family will survive is if the pilot follows his orders and crashes the plane.