Water

When a book's called Secrets at Sea, it's no surprise that water is pretty important—and there's tons of water imagery all over this book. Here are a handful of splish-splashy moments that cropped up for us:

• The title (we've got plenty to say about this title, so head on over to the "What's Up with the Title?" section for more goodies)
• The marble's prediction that Helena will travel across the ocean in a big ship
• The rain barrel where Helena's mom and two older sisters drowned
• When Helena almost falls into the sea during the lifeboat drill
• And the Atlantic Ocean, of course—now that's one huge water image

What other instances with water do you find in the book?

When Helena looks into Aunt Fannie's crystal ball to see her future, she sees one main thing: water. Yep, Helena just can't get away from the stuff. And she sure isn't happy to see the inside of the marble looking so wet:

The marble was awash, and water is not a happy subject for us mice. Stormy gray seawater crashed in waves. The marble filled to overflowing. Great, surging mountains and valleys of wicked water. I felt wet through. (5.83)

Helena is so frightened of the sea—just check out how she describes the ocean here. It's "stormy" and "wicked," and we're willing to bet that this image of water isn't making Helena feel any safer about crossing the Atlantic. In fact, she's more freaked out than ever. And with a watery image like that, we can't blame her.

Okay, so Helena is pretty afraid of water—but our girl also shows some major courage when it comes to facing this ocean. She might be super scared, but she overcomes her fear, and even becomes the leader who helps her mice family to cross the big bad sea. And we'd say that's pretty stinkin' brave.

So the water imagery in this book teaches us a lot about fear and about courage. And while it does, it represents something else: change. Just think about how Helena goes from afraid to super brave when it comes to the ocean, or how Aunt Fanny sees water when she predicts the future. Time and again, water crops up alongside moments of change in this book.

And here you just thought it was just fun to go swimming.