Bibliography
Byars, B. (1970). The Summer of the Swans. New York: Scholastic.
Summary
In Summer of the Swans, we read about a fourteen-year-old girl named Sara Godfrey, who is having the worst summer of her life and can’t stop complaining about her big feet and her ugly orange sneakers. Sara grudgingly takes her ten-year-old mentally handicapped brother Charlie to the lake to see the swans and has to drag him back home when it gets dark. During the night, Charlie sets off on his own to see the swans, but ends up taking a wrong turn and getting lost in the woods. The next day it is discovered that Charlie is missing, and Sara knows in her heart that Charlie must have gotten lost on his way to see the swans. With the help of her friend Mary and her enemy Joe Melby, Sara spends the day searching the woods, tirelessly calling out to Charlie, finally finding him at the bottom of a ravine, scratched up, bruised and scared, but ultimately okay.
My Thoughts
As I began reading this book, I didn’t really care for Sara at all. All she did was complain about her ugly sneakers, her big feet, and not being pretty. I found her to be rather self-centered and petty. But as I read on, I was touched by her devotion and determination to find her helpless brother. When faced with a real emergency situation, she was able to put her love for her brother ahead of her petty grudge against Joe Melby, and even came to realize that she had been wrong about Joe. The personal growth of Sara’s character is what made me end up liking this book in the end. To be able to admit that you are wrong and to be able to think of others ahead of yourself are two very desirable traits that Sara gained through her experience.
Reviews
“Put Betsy Byars and the Newbery Award on the cover of a book and you've already reeled me in - so to be disappointed is a bigger letdown than you'd think! Not a bad book, just not a great book.
“Sara is the middle child, between mute Charlie and pretty Wanda. Their parents, one dead and one very absent, have tasked Aunt Willie with the care of the children and all seems fairly standard - a little bickering, a "you can't tell me what to do" argument, etc - until the day Sara takes Charlie to see the swans. Charlie finds the swans fascinating and soothing and doesn't want to leave, so when he looks out his window that night and sees something white moving, he is sure they have come to find him. Leaving the house in the darkness, Charlie becomes lost and Sara discovers things about herself, her brother and others in the hours after he is discovered missing.
“For the first time, I find Byars' character's speech a bit off for their age. Sara's use of the word "bloomers" and the sentence "I just acted too hastily." don't seem to fit a girl in her early teens in the 1970s, although the reference to TV game shows of the time was amusing. Sara may be just "coming of age" but she ends up seeming, at times, like a much older adult - and not in the "mature for her age" sense. If you're looking to read all the Newbery winners, then you'll want to read this one. For a really good book, or even for the best Byars offers, this isn't it.”
AnnaLovesBooks. (2007, December 9). [Book review of the book Summer of the Swans by B. Byars]. Retrieved from www.paperbackswap.com/Summer-Swans-Betsy-Byars/book/0140314202
Ideas for Use
This would be a great book to use as a group book discussion.
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