Summer of the Swans

Infobox Book
name = Summer of the Swans
title_orig =
translator =


image_caption = Early edition cover
author = Betsy Byars
illustrator = Ted CoCorvs
cover_artist =
country = United States
language = English
series =
genre = Children's novel
publisher = Viking Press
release_date = 1970
media_type = Print (Hardback & Paperback)
pages =
isbn = ISBN 0-14-031420-2
preceded_by =
followed_by =

"Summer of the Swans" is a novel by Betsy Byars that won the Newbery Medal in 1971.

"Summer of the Swans" was filmed as "Sara's Summer of the Swans" for an ABC after school special.

Plot introduction

Sara Godfrey lives in an unnamed part of West Virginia with her Aunt Willie, her older sister Wanda, a nurse at the local hospital and their autistic younger brother Charlie. (Charlie is autistic due to several sicknesses he had when he was three years old, which left him brain damaged.) Their father, who is Aunt Willie's brother, lives and works in middle Ohio, and is often remote. Aunt Willie takes care of them ever since the death of their mother some six years prior to the summer in which the book takes place.

One day, Charlie and Sara see swans at the lakeside, a beautiful and very elegant sight. Charlie wants to see them again but gets lost in the forest while searching for the lake. Sara and her friends have to rescue him. The story is a coming-of-age story for the fourteen year-old Sara; especially with a boy named Joe Melby. Joe was wrongly accused by Sara of losing Charlie's watch, but when his own watch is broken, Joe, who also helps Sara in the search, lends Charlie his own watch, which leads her to forgive Joe and they become friends.

Major Scenes

"“There was something painfully beautiful about the swans.” "“The six swans seemed motionless on the water, their necks all arched at the same angle, so that it seemed there was only one swan mirrored fiecxve times.”"Thickly forested land surrounded the lake. A clump of pines hung off to one side, balanced by a tree that hung over the water where the lake met land. Sara and Wanda stood alone, the only two people by the lake, feeding the swans gliding over the dark water morsels of bread. "“One of the swans dived under the water and rose to shake its feathers. Then it moved across the water. Slowly the other swans followed, dipping their long necks far into the water to catch any remaining pieces of bread. ” [Adapted from the book "The Summer of the Swans".]

This paints a picture of tranquility. The movements of the elegant swans only serve to blend in with the serene surroundings. The contrast between humans and nature is muted here; where usually humans are painted as intruders and destroyers of nature, disrupting the rich and luscious greenery, we see a harmonious coexistence here.

The vivid descriptions strike home. They stir the heart, not the way inspirational speeches do, but in an equally rousing way. The scene of lush greenery and 2 lonely children by the lakeside springs to life in our minds.