Everyone can make a difference in water safety and drowning prevention (in and out of the water)!
Why Water Safety Books Matter?
Books open the door to important conversations that can help keep kids safer. We are thrilled to announce the eight books below for our 2025 Book Safety Literacy Outreach program!
Water Safety books give clear, memorable guidance, like Josh the Baby Otter, which inspires children to pledge: “I promise to get an adult when I go near the water.” The playful and lovable dolphin in Take a Breath Seth! is on a mission to teach children about the dangers of prolonged underwater breath-holding in a way that is fun, engaging and memorable. Our friend Leslie Schwene teaches kids about rip currents, the sting-ray shuffle and more important lessons in Let’s Go to the Beach! Beach Safety Tips with Lifeguard Leslie.
Thanks to generous donations from the Prevent Drowning Foundation of San Diego, the CEK Foundation and the Joshua Collingsworth Memorial Foundation, along with the support of the authors of these books, we present the 2025 Water Safety Literacy Outreach Binder which includes the following books.
| Josh the Baby Otter by Blake Collingsworth | Colin & Friends Wait for a Grown-Up by Alissa Magrum |
| Can Starfish Make a Wish? by Jill White | Splish Splash Safely by Lotta Todd |
| Take a Breath Seth!by Maile Lyle, Irelyn Quick and Finley Jackson | The Doctor Says: Let’s Talk About Water Safety byDr. Pat Morgan |
| Let’s Go to the Beach! Beach Safety Tips with Lifeguard Leslie by Leslie Schwene | |
| AquaPros Water Safety Adventures | |
What to do with the Water Safety Literacy Outreach Binder of Books
Showcase, encourage reading and ask your favorite lifeguards and grown-ups to read these Water Safety Books to children in your school, pool or library! Make a display, set up a Book Pool, practice the back float or try a life vest!
More Resources: We’ve compiled a list of over 50 children’s books that can be part of the lifelong family discussion of water and water safety here’s a link to the BOOK POOL provided by the Step into Swim organization! https://www.stepintoswim.org/news-resources/dive-into-reading-by-book-pool/
The American Red Cross released a refreshed version of its Longfellow’s WHALE Tales Water Safety for Children program last month. WHALE Tales is a dryland water safety education program designed to help make elementary school-aged children “water smart.” WHALE is an acronym for Water Habits Are Learned Early. www.redcross.org/take-a-class/teach-water-safety/whale-tales
For more information on the Book Pool Literacy Outreach please email info@preventdrowningfoundation.org
