Water Safety is the fourth artist’s book in Fessler’s True Stories Series. In this story, relationships are equated with water. Characters dive in but can suffocate and drown if they are not careful. The book begins with an introduction entitled "Personal Safety in Swimming" that makes it clear that people must learn to take care of themselves. As with all of books in her True Stories Series, Fessler appropriates and edits titles, text, and images from instructional manuals.
These elements are used to illustrate a true story about a couple in a romantic relationship. Often the images and storyline seem at odds with each other, but they eventually merge and readers begin to see personality and emotion in the faces of the anonymous characters. Unlike previous books in the series, which paired only image and text, Water Safety utilizes three elements—image, caption, and story—on each page.
