Swimming with Spies by Chrystyna Lucyk-Berger

Swimming with Spies is an animal rescue story that provides valuable background to the Russia/Ukraine conflict.

Swimming with Spies by Chystyna Lucyk-Berger. Scholastic, 2024, 267 pages.

Reading Level: Middle Grades, ages 10-12

Recommended for: ages 10-14

Sofiya Oleksandrivna Len is a half-and-half: her mother is Russian, her father Ukrainian. Russia is part of her makeup, even though she lives in Sebastopol, on the Crimean Peninsula. And even though her mother moved to Moscow years earlier after an accident her tato (father) doesn’t like to talk about. Her mother’s absence is Sofiya’s great sorrow, though the antagonism of Illya Illyich Chaban, formerly a childhood friend, is becoming a close second. Illya is a half-and-half also but leans more toward the Russian side. These identities will come into sharper conflict in the spring of 2014, when Russian troops invade Crimea and impose a form of martial law.

The invasion is especially painful for Sofiya, who helps her marine-biologist father train dolphins in the world-renowned Sebastopol dolphinarium. She considers Colin, a 30-year-old male, her best friend: “I know that he understands everything about me, and I understand everything about him.” They have a remarkable bond, as even Illya recognizes when he’s assigned to work with Sofiya after their most recent altercation. But when the Russians invade it’s Illya’s own father who confiscates the dolphinarium and reassigns Colin (and the rest of the pod) to military service. The dolphins’ extraordinary speed and intelligence make them outstanding subjects for spy cameras, even attack weapons. Sofiya is aghast, but what can one 12-year-old do? Clearly she can’t rescue her friends alone. But with a handful of friends, an unlikely ally, and some useful technology she might stand a chance.

Besides a war-themed adventure and animal rescue, Swimming with Spies provides some helpful background for understand the current war in Ukraine. Sofiya is a spunky, and sometimes spiky, protagonist—and a credible stand-in for the Ukrainian spirit that refused to surrender any more territory when Russian tanks pushed over the border almost three years ago. Her reverence for the dolphins seems exaggerated, but readers who don’t know much about these marine mammals will come to appreciate their amazing abilities. The story moves fast, especially toward the end, and works as a satisfying adventure tale as well as a relevant slice of recent history.

Bottom Line: An engaging tale of responding to oppression with courage and ingenuity.

Also at Redeemed Reader:

• Review: The Lost Year exposes the Holodomor, the deliberate starving of Ukrainian citizens by Stalin during the 1930s.
• Resources: During the Crimean invasion, Redeemed Reader put together a booklist of Ukrainian subjects.  Also see Hayley’s three-part series based on her own experience in Ukraine.

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