- Chapter Books
- Ages 9–12
- Contemporary
Boy Underwater
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Book 1 in Cymbeline IglooView the full series
A nine-year-old boy who has never been swimming is thrown into the deep end at his first school lesson, triggering his mum's breakdown and a hunt for the family secret behind his fear. Riotously funny narration wraps a tender story of grief and a parent's mental illness.
- Best for9–12
- FormatChapter
- Length256 pp
- Read aloud~3 hr40 min
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The vibe
What it’s like.
Style
- Conversational
- Comedic
Tone
- Funny
- Warm
- Heartwarming
- Bittersweet
- Thought provoking
Themes
Experience meters
What’s it about?
The story.
Cymbeline Igloo has never, ever been swimming. So when his first school swimming lesson looms he's terrified - and when a classmate shoves him into the deep end of Lewisham Pool, he sinks. Rescued by the fiercely clever Veronique, Cym is fine; but the incident sends his mum into a breakdown, and she's admitted to hospital. Determined to bring her home, Cym and Veronique start digging into a past his mum has kept hidden - one that reaches back to the dad who died when Cym was tiny, and to a secret buried in her paintings. Adam Baron's debut is narrated by one of the funniest, most endearing voices in children's fiction: chatty, observant and forever getting the wrong end of the stick. Beneath the jokes about football, best friends and embarrassing mums runs a genuinely moving story about loss, love and a boy quietly trying to hold his family together. Warm, wise and laugh-out-loud funny.
Fit check
Right for your child?
Where it lands by age
Pitched at 9-12s reading independently, with a voice funny enough to read aloud from about 8. The comedy carries younger readers, while the threads of a parent's mental illness and a father's death give it real emotional weight for the top of the range.
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- Best fit · 9–12
- Read aloud · 8–11
- Independent · 9–12
Prose load
Moderate
Visual support
Low
Reluctant-reader friendly
Very
Read-aloud quality
Strong
Works well for
- Reading aloud
- Gift-buying
- Reluctant readers
Preview before sharing if a child is sensitive to: grief, death of parent, mental health.
Bedtime suitability
2 / 5 · Better outside bedtime
Sensitive-child
2 / 5 · Use judgement
Graphic intensity
1 / 5 · None
Best for
- Funny and moving
- Family stories
- Emotional literacy
- Reluctant readers
Avoid if
- Wants gentle bedtime
- Sensitive to parental illness
- Sensitive to bereavement
Particularly good for children who are…
- Illness in family
- Bereavement
- Single parent family
Why it lands
Why they love it.
Why kids love it
Cym's voice is hilarious - he panics about swimming, obsesses over football and gets everything gloriously wrong - so when the story turns to his mum and the dad he never knew, kids are already hooked. Solving the mystery alongside brainy Veronique makes them feel like proper detectives.
- Being understood finally
- Making a difference
- Friendship and belonging
- Being a detective
Why parents love it
Adam Baron handles a mother's breakdown and a child's grief with rare lightness and honesty, never losing the comedy. It opens conversations about mental illness and loss without ever feeling like a lesson, and reads aloud beautifully.
- Shared humour
- Conversation starter
- Great writing
In the series
Cymbeline Igloo.
4 books · open the series →
About the creators
About the creators.
If you liked this
Three ways out of this book.
If you liked this, try…
Lateral matches. Same shelf, different texture.
Where to go next…
Escalation reads — a step up in scale, silliness, or stakes.
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