- Chapter Books
- Ages 9–12
- Contemporary
Boy Underwater
Book 1 of 4 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
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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- 5
- 7
- 9
- 11
- 13
- 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.
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Lateral matches. Same shelf, different texture.
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Escalation reads — a step up in scale, silliness, or stakes.
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