The Summer of the Swans by Betsy Byars
Winner of the 1971 Newbery Medal, The Summer of the Swans by Betsy Byars is the story of the longest day of 14-year-old Sara’s life. Her summer has already been awful and boring, she thinks that her feet are too big and she’s jealous of her beautiful older sister Wanda. Sara, her sister and their little brother Charlie, who is mentally handicapped (the book written in the ’70′s labels him as retarded – I would suspect some type of autism), live with their Aunt who has been taking care of them since their mother died six years ago. Their father, who only visits on weekends, has become a distant figure in Sara’s life.
Sara is fiercely devoted to Charlie but also feels as though she can never get a moment alone without him. One night, after having watched the swans at the nearby lake, Charlie goes missing. That next morning a desperate search takes place to find him, and Sara is certain that he’s gotten lost when trying to find the swans again. The story centers around Sara’s search for Charlie. The Summer of the Swans has a rather simple story line but around it revolves a story of family dynamics and coming-of age-angst.
As I’m attempting to read all of the Newbery books, I’m glad to have read The Summer of the Swans but I doubt I’ll be holding on to this one. I wanted to know what happened to Charlie and if they’d find him but otherwise, not much else stood out for me. If anything, I enjoyed the process of reading a children’s book written in the ’70s and getting a kick out of all the TV show’s that Sara watched. That, and taking notice of how an author treated a character with a disability at a time when not much was understood about them. Certainly, not a favorite Newbery but not particularly terrible either. Meh.
Links of interest: more book blogger reviews.
Genre: Middle Grade Fiction, approx ages 9-12.
Publisher: Puffin. 1981. Originally published 1970.
Paperback, 142 pages. ISBN B000OJ5ZLQ
Source copy: Own
The Summer of the Swans is available from your favorite independent bookstore, Powell’s, and Amazon.
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Tags: A-D Author, Fiction, Newbery, Newbery Medal, published 1970's, Publisher: Puffin, Q-T Title
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Oh, I felt like that. The longest two CDs of my life
on September 3rd, 2010 at 9:38 amI love Newberry books. But I have read 2 stinkers lately. The Higher Power of Lucky is one of them. I dont know if I was not in the mood but I started skipping pages to finish this one up. I read the Summer of Swans , 100 years ago but cant remember what I thought about it.
on September 3rd, 2010 at 3:30 pmI read The Summer of the Swans as a child, probably not long after it was awarded the Newbery Medal. I don’t think that I have read it since then, but I have very fond memories of it. I think at the time it was different from a lot of other books I was reading, maybe more real or more meaningful. It certainly made enough of an impact that I still remember much of it these many years later. Last fall I read a book with my fifth grade book club that reminded me of The Summer of the Swans, the Newbery Honor book Rules.
on September 3rd, 2010 at 5:36 pmThe way that our young heroines are portrayed (as well as the supporting cast) are certainly different now. Sometimes they hold up, and sometimes they don’t.
I know I read this, because the title is so familiar, but I don’t remember it.
on September 3rd, 2010 at 7:47 pmThe title inspires positive feelings, but I have no recollection of reading this (probably sometime in grade school). It’s been a long time since I’ve read a book written for the under 12 crowd.
on September 3rd, 2010 at 8:46 pmWe read this as a class most every year…a favorite. As for Higher Power of Lucky…I am reading this to my students now…we love it! I especially love because it brings back memories of the time when I stayed with my aunt in Tuba City, Arizona and later, Bakersfield CA.
on September 8th, 2010 at 9:04 amI love this book!
on January 7th, 2011 at 5:07 pmi Read it over Winter Break
& i finished it within 3 days!
In the book The Summer of the Swans,Does anyone know what Charlie’s favorite t.v shows were? Because my daughter forgot her book at school and her homework has one question she doesn’t know.Thanks
on May 10th, 2011 at 8:26 pm