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Title: The Summer of the Swans
ISBN: 0881032395
Author:
Betsy Cromer Byars
Publicate Date: 1999-10
Publish: 1999-10
List Price: $15.30
Average Customer Rating: 3.5
Format: School & Library Binding
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Amazon Lowest Used Price: $0.55
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| Customer Review: |
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1: A snapshot of an intense family dynamic...
The summer the swans come to the pond by the Godfreys' house, teenage Sara is feeling neverendingly cranky. It seems like her pretty older sister Wanda is always poking fun of her, her Aunt Willie who's raising them is always on her case, and nothing about her looks or personality seems right.
Worst of all, there's Charlie, Sara's mentally challenged younger brother. It seems like she can never get a moment away from him, not even to see the swans.
One night, Charlie slips out of the house, determined to see his beloved swans again. In the darkness he becomes disoriented and lost, prompting a townwide search. It is then that Sara begins to understand what her family truly means to her, which in turn helps her to grow more self-confident in her own abilities.
Despite the description's potential for triteness, Byars does an excellent job, weaving the story of a complicated, often troubled family around the one pivotal event that threatens to change their family forever. Readers will find the story worth reading, and eagerly seek out the sequel.
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2: pleasant
An authentic and pleasant story of a girl with a handicapped brother. She feels tied down until her brother becomes lost. Then she learns to see her rivals, her brother, and her absent father in new ways. A book to recommend to students 11-15 as it authentically describes adolescent issues vis a vis family and peers. Insightful.
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3: Finding out what is important
There are four main characters in this short story based in the beauty of West Virginia: 14 year-old Sarah, her older sister, Wendy, her younger brother, Charlie, and the relative who is raising all three children, Aunt Willie. While the story certainly centers on finding Charlie, a child who is mentally disabled, the reader also sees Sarah finding truth about her own self. The reader will survey many things: that all relationships in life are not perfect, that sometimes we make mistakes by assuming things, that beauty is indeed more than superficialities, that our desires can sometimes appear from places we never expect. The story has very short chapters and a very happy ending. There are some good layers of the story to unravel such as the significance of the swans to Sarah and the meaning of their return to the lake at the university. Overall, young people should find this a very entertaining story.
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4: An Amazing Book
Personally I love this book. It is about a 14-year-old girl named Sara Godfrey who is going through a confusing summer. She is hitting puberty and feels depressed a lot of the time. Sara lives with her Aunt Willie, college-aged sister Wanda, a aging dog named Boysie, and her mentally handicapped 10-year-old brother, Charlie. Charlie also shows signs of autism (For instance his infatuation with his watch,) but this book was originally published in 1970 when imformation about autism was less widespread so it's not mentioned. One night Sara takes Charlie to the lake to see the swans, and something about them fascinates him. He wants to stay, but she takes him home with her. That night, Charlie wakes up and wanders out of the house trying to find them again and gets lost in the woods. That morning Sara and her family embark on a desperate search to find him. This book is a quick read but it's so good, with it's detailed descriptions and memorable charactors, that you won't feel cheated.
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5: The Summer of the Swans
ISBN 0140314202 - 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.
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