Tom McCaughren, a native of Ballymena, Co. Antrim, lives in Dublin and was a journalist and
broadcaster with RTÉ for many years. He has written books for adults, young adults and children,
including the classic Run with the Wind series and (with Erika McGann and illustrator Shannon Bergin) Run Home, Little Fox. His books have been widely translated and have received a number of awards,
including the An Post Irish Book Award Junior Children’s Book 2025, Reading Association of Ireland
Book Award, the Book of the Decade Award from the Irish Children’s Book Trust, the White Ravens from the International Youth Library in Munich and the Oscar Wilde Society’s Literary Recognition Award. Erika McGann is a children’s author based in Dublin. She has written more than twenty books for children of all ages, including the award-winning Run Home, Little Fox. Also Where Are You, Puffling? and other Puffling adventures (with illustrator Gerry Daly), What is a Peachick? and Standing on One Leg is Hard (both with illustrator Clive McFarland) and The Strange Tale of
Barnabus Kwerk and Tabitha Plimtock and the Edge of the World (both with illustrations by Phillip Cullen), the latter awarded a White Raven by the International Youth Library.
Shannon Bergin is an Irish illustrator, avid doodler and tea drinker. As a kid, she wandered around
the countryside making up stories and drawing on any available surface. As a grown-up, she basically does the same thing, but now it’s for books, galleries and other cool things. She has won several
awards, including (for Run Home, Little Fox) the An Post Irish Book Awards, Junior Children’s Book
2025. Previous books Evie’s Christmas Wishes (written by Siobhán Parkinson) and Over the Red-Brick Chimney (written by Una Leavy) were also both shortlisted for the Irish Book Awards. She loves books, gardening and all things colourful, with a hint of magic. First published 2026 by The O’Brien Press Ltd, 12 Terenure Road East, Rathgar, Dublin 6, D06 HD27, Ireland Tel: +353 1 4923333; E-mail: books@obrien.ie; Website: obrien.ie The O’Brien Press is a member of Publishing Ireland.
Dedications:
ISBN: 978-1-78849-680-3
SB: For Cha & Andrea, just keep swimming
Text © Tom McCaughren 2026 © Erika McGann 2026 The moral rights of the authors and illustrator have been asserted. Illustrations © Shannon Bergin 2026 Typesetting, layout, design and editing © The O’Brien Press 2026 Cover and internal design by Emma Byrne
TMcC: For Annabelle, keep drawing EMcG: For Cleo and Beatrix
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or utilised in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including for text and data mining, training artificial intelligence systems, photocopying, recording or in any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. 87654321 30 29 28 27 26 To the best of our knowledge, this book complies in full with the requirements of the General Product Safety Regulation (GPSR). For further information and help with any safety queries, please contact us at productsafety@obrien.ie. Printed and bound in Poland by Białostockie Zakłady Graficzne S.A. The paper in this book is produced using pulp from managed forests.
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In their den in the riverbank, a mother otter cuddled her three cubs. And she told them all about the wonders of the river.
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‘You might see the silvery trout,’ she said. ‘Or the slippery eel.
Or maybe even the tasty salmon returning home from its travels.’
4
Their parents brought the otter cubs fish to eat.
But soon it was time for them to fish for themselves. ‘You must learn to swim,’ their father said. 5
But Ollie, the littlest of the cubs, was afraid. That night, he had a terrible dream.
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He dreamt that he slid down the muddy bank, into the water, deeper and deeper. Down towards the dark riverbed. 7
The next day, Ollie’s brothers slid down the bank and into the river. They learned to swim quickly. They made it look easy! 8
Ollie followed, but it was too like his nightmare. He struggled and spluttered and coughed.
His mother pulled him to safety. She was worried. What would Ollie do if he couldn’t learn to swim? 9
‘When he’s hungry enough,’ his father said, ‘he’ll have to swim. Like all otters do.’
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Ollie was named for the oily fur that helps otters glide through the water. So why couldn’t he swim? He felt silly and scared. He didn’t want to go back in the water.
So Ollie decided to run away.
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