Given the past two years, with a war waging between Russia and Ukraine, Swimming with Spies by Chrystyna Lucyk-Berger is an especially relevant novel for middle grade readers. This historical fiction text tells the story of the annexation of Crimea in 2014—a time when “Russkyi mir, the violence and blood and criminality and corruption,” threatened Ukrainian’s language, culture, and tradition.
The stars of this story are Sofiya, Ilya, Cedric, Anna, and Petro, twelve-year-old classmates who have to decide whether they will work together as well as determine the degree to which nationalism plays a role in identity. Additional characters serve as significant support staff in the story’s telling. Among those are Ivan Markovich, a food truck proprietor, chess player, and owner of Musty, Marble, and Monk—three pit bulls.
When the story opens, Sofiya Oleksandrivna Len dreams of becoming a marine biologist. One of the things she loves most in the world is the dolphinarium, where a whale named Fizz, as well as sea lions and dolphins comprise her family. Sofiya’s father is a dolphin trainer, researching language in marine animals while using the dolphins as therapy animals. Sofiya likes watching how the marine animals “transform people from shy and uncertain to joyful and hopeful” (31). Although the pod has indeed transformed Sofiya, she still wonders how her mother could have abandoned her and the family—a mystery that provides a key plot thread.
But the dolphins weren’t always used for therapeutic purposes. Given their complex abilities with echolocation and communication, the Russians used dolphins as military animals. Like guard dogs, they can detect mines, protect navel property, carry cameras, plant mines, follow foreign vessels, and patrol waters. This entirely different and dangerous life makes Sofiya certain that she doesn’t want her beloved family to work as soldiers. Her experiences have told her that positive reinforcement, not punishment, is the way to build trust. In her most conflicted moments, Sofiya draws to escape the stress and chaos of her life.
Set in Sevastopol on the Crimean Penisula, Swimming with Spies also tells a coming of age story for the five tweens. Under the tutelage of mentors like their teacher Miss Yvette and Grandma Len, the youth learn the value of asking the right questions in order to reach understanding, using language as defense, and learning how “irony pierces the gut of truth” (131).
Ivan tells Sofiya: “We can’t forget or language, Sofiya. It is our only defense. Our shield! We fought hard to have a right to it after the Soviet days!” (79). Similarly, Babushka scolds some bullies: “It is an easy thing to simply parrot what you hear, and repeat what you think you know without having to think! It’s a waste of perfectly good brain cells, I tell you” (119).
With her father’s strategic abilities and her mother’s fiery temper, Sofiya vows to make sense of a messy world and to save her precious dolphins. But first, she must learn forgiveness in his world where some Russians don’t want Ukrainians to exist.
Readers will likely appreciate the threads of mystery, the complications of friendship, the need for belonging, and the feeling of being enough in Lucyk-Berger’s book. Will Operation Dolphin Squad have the results Sofiya seeks, or will Ilya betray her yet again? Both youth are half Ukrainian and half Russian, so where do they fit? On which side should they stand? Will the concept of razom enable the group to work together despite their differences? Along with the characters, readers will be encouraged to reflect on this important questions: What would you risk to protect the ones you love?
- Donna