Anna and Anto are 12 year old twins, very close and both living through the nightly arguments of their parents, sitting at the top of the stairs worrying and comforting one another.
Anna is a dancer and is awaiting decisions on who will be chosen to go to Italy on a dancing tour. She is also a dreamer and constantly daydreams perfect scenarios of her happy family in the sun and luxury of Italy.
Anto is autistic and non-verbal, so they have devised a means of communication via Lego bricks which the whole family use and charts which just the twins use, but Anna is the one person who thoroughly understands Anto.
When Anna is brought together with the star of the dance group and another girl so far removed from Anna’s usual friendship circle she learns more than she anticipated and matters come to a head at home.
A great portrayal of one boy’s experience of autism and how this impacts family life and the resulting gains.

Anna and Anto are 12 year old twins whose parents are arguing a lot. Told from Anna's point of view we read of her struggle to come to terms with what this might mean for her and her brother. Anto is non verbal and communicates through a complex Lego brick colour system. Brian Conaghan has written an excellent portrayal of how the world appears to Anto and how Anna copes with his, and her own, understanding of her family situation. As an adult I thoroughly enjoyed this book and would recommend it to parents and teachers for P7 and S1 stage. Many thanks to netgalley, author and publisher for an advance copy of Swimming On the Moon.