Swim That Rock

Swim That Rock is a 2014 children’s novel by American author John Rocco. A bildungsroman, or coming-of-age novel, it chronicles the life of teenager Jake Cole after he loses his father at sea. Cole works as a fisherman, struggling to repay a loan his father took out to fund a family business, lest they are forced to move out of their home in Rhode Island. The novel received positive reviews for its vivid characterization of life in the fishing industry on the East Coast and its collision with adolescence, family, and modern life.

The novel begins in 1982 in the coastal town of Warren, Rhode Island. Cole’s father has disappeared while fishing at sea, causing the family to grapple simultaneously with the grief of his loss and sudden financial insecurity. Cole works extra hours as a fisherman in Narragansett Bay. His mother works at the family business, a diner called the Riptide. Together, they hope to pay off the loan with which the diner was purchased, though they are indebted to a notorious loan shark who is in the mafia.

Cole’s mother recommends that the family sell the diner, pay off the loan, and move to Arizona to live with extended family. Cole rejects this idea, believing fervently that his father is still alive. Nevertheless, increasing financial pressures make staying in Warren increasingly unlikely as days go by. The fact that he now is his family’s primary caretaker plagues Cole with extreme anxiety. As weeks go by, Cole is presented with two different job opportunities, which symbolize moral and immoral ways of making a living. First, he is hired as a clam picker and sorter, or “quahogger,” for the best friend of his father, Gene Hassard. He meets Gene each day and quickly learns how to tickle the clams to force them to detach themselves from the floor of the bay.



Just before a local beach is opened to clam fishing for the first time in many years, Cole is seriously injured, preventing him from making money from the new resources. Desperate, he decides to fish at night, illegally, with a strange man who goes by “Captain.” In order to do so, he has to placate a game warden whom the mob pays to keep silent. Despite the obstacles in his family’s way, Cole saves up the $10,000 needed to pay off the loan shark. Having saved his family’s diner, he appreciates the rewards of his hard work and the goodwill of the people who helped him along the way. Having successfully taken over his father’s role, he is finally able to come to terms with his death.

Swim That Rock ends on a hopeful note, suggesting that all grief can be resolved over time. Moreover, Cole’s development as an individual results not only from his ability to successfully support his family financially and to take on new functional roles as situations change, but also from learning to discriminate right from wrong.