Swan Dive

Gr 9 Up–Cris is writing his story because his therapist told him to. She tells him, “You’re the hero of your story” and asks him what kind of hero he wants to be. Cris isn’t sure about much of anything, except that he isn’t a hero, but he writes his story nonetheless. In journal entries that go from the present in 1999 to various points in his past, Cris slowly reveals the reason he is in therapy and estranged from his best friend Elle. He writes about his therapy sessions, his family’s escape from Sarajevo, and becoming friends with Elle after settling in Winnipeg, Canada. The narrative meanders as Cris avoids writing about a lie he told and the effect it had. The author, who works with refugees in Winnipeg, inserts a lot of details about the former Yugoslavia and sprinkles in some Bosnian words and phrases. The book includes an essay titled “The Tragedy of Sarajevo for Curious Bystanders,” attributed to one of Cris’s sisters, which explains more about the history of Yugoslavia and why they had to flee Sarajevo.