The Summer of the Swans

Written by Betsy Byars

Narrated by Christina Moore

This summer is turning out to be the most confusing time of 14-year-old Sara Godfrey’s life. Up until now, things have flowed as smoothly and peacefully as the swans gliding across the lake. But suddenly, Sara feels like things are going wrong. She wants to fly away from everyone—her popular sister, her bossy aunt, and her beloved, mentally retarded brother Charlie. Then one night, Charlie disappears. In Sara’s long and frantic search for her brother, her own problems seem small and unimportant. And before the night is over, she realizes that sometimes you don’t know what matters most in your life—until you almost lose it. For over 20 years, The Summer of the Swans has captivated young adults across the nation with its gentle power and poignant drama. The winner of the prestigious Newbery Medal, it is a contemporary classic from one of the most popular authors of young adult fiction.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Recorded Books Audio
• Release date: Jan 1, 1995
• ISBN: 9781470354527

Betsy Byars

Betsy Byars (1928-2020) is the author of many award-winning and popular books for children, including The Seven Treasure Haunts, Tornado and the Boo's Dinosaur series. Ms. Byars was awarded the Newbery Medal in 1971 for The Summer of the Swans, and the National Book Award in 1981 for The Night Swimmers. She collaborated with her daughters Laurie Myers and Betsy Duffey on a number of books, including My Dog, My Hero and The SOS File. She lived in South Carolina.

Reviews for The Summer of the Swans

[fingerpost_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Sara's brother Charlie is mentally handicapped. He becomes lost in the woods one night, and Sara is distraught looking for him.That doesn't sound like much of a story maybe, but it is so well told, in this brief, dialogue heavy book, that it is excellent. It's not a big powerful book, but a quiet one that settles down with you.

[calabrom2 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I read this to my students last year before summer. Many of my students can relate to the main character, Sara. Her mother passed away when she was young and her father is not around. Her aunt is her guardian. The students also really liked how Sara cares for her disabled brother Charlie.

[pidgeon92_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Short, excellent young adult novel.

[janarose1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Sara lives with her aunt, older sister Wanda, and mentally challenged brother Charlie. After Sara takes Charlie to the lake to watch the swans he decides to try and find them again when he can't sleep. Instead, he becomes lost in the woods, far from the comfort and security of home. I found the most interesting part of the book the scenes from Charlie's point of view. It was interesting to see what he focused on and how his thoughts were organized. Overall, I thought Sara was a bit whiny and irritable, however, kids may find her relatable.

[briannad84 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I always heard the title of this book while growing up and actually picked up and read a copy when I was 25. It was a bit different from what I thought it would be, but still a good story. I loved the part about Sarah trying to dye her orange shoes blue!

[goodnightmoon_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A book focused on internal thoughts and feelings more than external events, Summer of the Swans is an accurate portrayal of a teenage girl's turmoil. Actually, its style reminded me of Criss Cross by Lynne Rae Perkins - low-key summertime angst. But the downfall of this book is its inability to age well, since it's such a literal slice of life. I would never recommend this book to modern youngsters, since its dated language would be too hard to wade through.

[smg626 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The1970's seem so long ago - you almost feel the setting of this story as a historical period. However, the issues faced in this story are timeless: dealing with inner the conflict of the turbulent teens and dealing with a brother who is "special". What made this story interesting was the process of Sara's change of heart for Joe Melby.

[lehack · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The story is about a brother with developmental disabilities and his sister. Opportunity for discussion about sensitivity to those with MR/DD and how it affects families.

[jresner-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This realistic story is about a boy with special needs who leaves his house at night to look for swans, but gets very lost. His older sister searches for him all day, and ends up finding him in the end. She had gone through the book very hateful toward Joe Melby, who she thought stole her brothers watch, but he ended up actually being the one who got it back for him. She ends up being invited to a party by Joe, and is much happier.

[miss_annie_o · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This hitorical fiction follows the hardest summer of Sara Godfrey's life. She was suddenly miserable and didn't really like her family. However, when her little brother Charlie (who is mentally handicaped) goes missing, she must fight all her feelings and go find him! By the time she does, Sara realizes that family is truly important, and all her ill-feelings dissipate.

[marymk-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Summary:The story is about fourteen year old Sara, her old sister Wanda, and her younger brother Charlie who is mentally challenged. Sara and Charlie live with their aunt after the death of their mother, and their new home is near a lake where swans gather. Sara and Charlie had visited the lake and Charlie was captivated by the lake and the swans. Sara is struggling with her own identity and the weight of her personal responsibilities. Then one night, Charlie leaves the house in search of the lake and the swans - and becomes lost. With her brother missing, Sara experiences a range of emotions and comes to realize how much she loves her brother. This book addresses a taboo issue of mental illness in children, and the impact on siblings.Personal Reaction:I found this book to be very sincere book that tenderly addresses a family - specifically children - who are dealing with serious challenges. The author takes the audience along on the roller coaster of Sara's emotions. I love that Sara came to the realization that her love for her brother was stronger than all the challenges they may be facing.Classroom Extensions:1 - Begin a classroom discussion exploring what to do to help find someone who is lost. After brainstorming, students will develop a plan to help Sara find her brother using the ideas from the class discussion, or their own ideas.2 - Explore how people with disabilities are viewed by our peers, our community, our society. Using the prompt, "What I Can Do..." have students make a poster about how they can make a positive impact for people with disabilities that can be presented to the class and displayed to share with others.

[marshahawkins · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I read this book because it was required for my daughter's summer reading. I enjoyed the book because I appreciated the honesty in which the main character expresses her often-contradictory emotions. She really doesn't know why her emotions are swinging back and forth and she's incredibly self-centered. Sound like a girl beginning puberty to this mom, which is quite evident to me but I think it was lost on my daughter. Also, I appreciated the special relationship she has with her special needs brother and actually uses her instincts to find him once he goes missing. I could just see this young girl grow up in front of my eyes. However, just like Judy Blume's books, this one needs some updating. I don't think young people would understand some of the setting such as the TV shows and the fact that her friend must walk around with curlers in her hair. Unfortunately, small details like this can distance a reader from a basically good story. It's important for the reader to see her/himself in the characters here, and I think generally young readers might fall into this trap. This is one of the those books that adults love, but kids rather leave on the shelves. Too bad.

[fatlamb · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I really wanted to give this book more than two stars. It is a good book, well written, but it just was not for me. The book does portray the realities of children today fighting with popularity, being attractive enough, being accepted by peers, missing father thus living with extended family members, and having to take on big responsibilities at a young age (Sara taking care of her brother Charlie who is mentally handicapped). Controversial aspects are not on the for front of this book. The book does teach us what we may know may not always be the truth. Charlie becomes missing, Sara and the whole town search for Charlie. There is a boy who Sara dislikes (Sara believes that Joe is the one who stole Charlie's watch and does not want his help and does not like him one bit). Sara is touched by his willinness to help find Charlie and she finds out Joe did not in fact steal Charlie's watch. Sara realizes her life before losing Charlie in reality was not that bad at all and feels guilty for being so miserable and now she truly does feel miserable. Charlie is found, Sara talks with her father via the telephone and you get a sense that she is beginning to understand what is important in life, the ones you love not the color of your shoes. Ages 9-12

[tjsjohanna_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is the perfect contained story - the action all takes place within about a day or so. Ms Byars captures that crazy time when one is leaving behind childhood - when emotions are all over the place, when everything about one's body is a potential thing to dislike. Then she adds into the mix the unusual situation - living with an aunt, having an absent father - physically and emotionally, loving a little brother who is mentally disabled. Very nicely done.

[sdando_2 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A simple book with a powerful message. I enjoyed the way the characters were portrayed, and I especially liked how the author gave the reader a glance into their minds on occasion so that we could better understand the way the character was feeling.

[zeebreez · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Byars, Betsy. The Summer of the Swans. New York: Hampton-Brown, 1970. This is a story about a girl and her young mute brother. He gets lost in the woods and she goes on a search to find him. She deals with her insecurities and learns through this experience that she will make it. This book also deals with the issues that are around a family member that is disabled. The whole family pulls together to help the little brother and to find him. Age group: 10-14 years.

[bknight07 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Genre: Realistic FictionAge: 4-6Summary: The main character is a young girl (middle school) that is very concerned with herself. She constantly wants to be prettier and to have a better life. Her little brother is mentally retarded and gets made fun of often. The main character protects her brother from the verbal abuse of outsiders. After taking him to see the swans, he sneaks off at night to find them on his own. He gets lost, causing the entire community to come together to search for him. The main character learns a valuable lesson and learns how to focus more on important things than her physical appearance. This book is eye opening for children to read about mental retardation.

[fuzzi_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Sara is restless, unhappy with her life, angry at the world. Her older sister is beautiful and has a boyfriend, and her younger brother Charlie is a burden, a pest. He hasn't spoken since he had a high fever six years ago. When Charlie wanders away overnight Sara's priorities change, and she discovers friendship in those she considered enemies. Realistic, not overly-whiny as some teen stories tend to be, recommended.

[pvhslibrarian · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Sara’s life has always flowed smoothly, like the gliding swans on the lake, until her little brother Charlie disappears. Then Sara is forced to see her life in a whole new way.(retrieved from Amazon Fri, 24 Apr 2009 07:58:23 -0400)Personal Review:Betsy Byars gives a very small slice of a girl's life, just a few days, but in that time you come to learn and identify with the many questions pounding in her head. A quick step back in time that will entertain generations for years to come. Every reader will learn the importance of family bonds.

[alelliott · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Byars, Betsy. The Summer of the Swans. NY: Viking. 1970.Although we aren’t supposed to judge a book by its cover, I was drawn to this book by the groovy swan art that decorated it. This sweet, slow-moving story about fourteen-year old Sara’s struggle to find her place in her family didn’t really take me to a groovy place, but I enjoyed it just the same.Sara lives with her aunt, her beautiful older sister, and her mentally retarded brother. At fourteen, she is at the age where emotions can change in an instant, whether it’s the way she feels about her orange sneakers, or the way she feels about her family. Both of her siblings get the lion’s share of the attention; her sister for her beauty, her brother for his disability. Like most young teenagers, Sara is struggling to define her own identity and to find independence, and she views her family with a mixture of frustration and love. Charlie, her little brother, best represents this dual thought. Even though she loves him dearly, she can’t help but be irritated by his stubbornness and slowness. But when Charlie disappears, she learns just what it means to love and be loved.Byars does a great job of portraying her characters, especially Charlie. She makes the delicate choice to write part of the story from his point of view, and it adds depth to the narrative. Sara is a typical teenager, spirited but whiny, but her transformation is moving and feels true to life. While the book is light on plot, at least until Charlie disappears, it moves forward by the grace and realism of its characters. All in all, a nice little book to help kids learn to look outside themselves and see the world from another’s point of view.For ages 10-14.

[sulick1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This was an excellent chapter book that was awarded the Newberry Medal. I liked this book for several reasons. First, it was a transitional chapter book because the chapters were very short (less than eight pages in length) and included pictures throughout the text. Second, this book would be very relatable to the interest level, which is upper-elementary school. The main character, Sarah, is going through a phase in her life where she is insecure and is finding her identity as a friend and a family member. Her insecurities are very typical of the adolescent about to transition into teenage hood. Also, her brother, who the story is mostly about, has a mental disorder. This is a great way to introduce inclusion into classroom discussion and could relate well to those whose siblings also have any sort of special need. Finally, the symbolism in this book points out the theme of finding out what is most important in your life. The author connects the migration of swans to the main character’s insecurities with her present life. But when faced with a challenge, she realizes that family and her relationship with her brother is significant, and she does not feel the need to make a change in her life. On page 130 of the book it states, “[Sarah] had wanted to fly away from everything, like the swans to a new lake, and now she didn’t want that any more.” This connection between Sarah, her brother, and the swans, tied together the messages of the book beautifully and left the book on a high note. The main purpose of this story was to show readers that you might not know the meaning of something you truly value until you almost lose it.

[teacherlibrarian_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Byars, Betsy. The summer of the swans. (1970). New York: Viking Kestrel. Sara Godfrey is a 14-year-old girl living with her Aunt Willie, her sister Wanda, and her 10-year-old brother Charlie in West Virginia in the early ‘70s. Charlie suffered a brain injury after an illness caused a high fever when he was three years old. It is summer time, and Sara is completely out of sorts with herself. She’s happy with her orange shoes one day and hates them the next; she thinks she’s unattractive; she envies her pretty sister; she feels pity for her brother for the first time in her life; and she suddenly sees her aunt as course. Then Charlie gets lost in the woods, and while she and the rest of the town look for him, she gets help from Joe Melby whom she believed had stolen Charlie’s watch four months before. As they search, Sara realizes how unimportant her concerns about her looks, her shoes, life had been and how wrong she’d been about Joe Melby. When she finds Charlie, she has changed. She now sees that she has come out from a shadow and her life is ahead of her offering an unlimited opportinity to move ahead. This book incisively expresses the unsettled feelings of children as they reach adolescence. As Sara sees the opportunities her life can bring, she also recognizes that Charlie’s life is so much more difficult than hers, and she sees how her father, who changed drastically when Charlie got sick and her mother died, has stopped moving forward in his own life. Summer of the Swans reflects the difficulty of growing up that any child has in any time and any culture. Even though the story was published in 1970, the characters are still realistic to children today. Sara’s concerns about her looks and her constantly changing beliefs and emotions are all things children can recognize in their own lives. The book deals with Sara’s feelings about her brother insightfully. She is fiercely protective of him, yet in her emotional turmoil, she calls him “retarded” for the first time in her life. The book shows how ashamed she is of this and reflects the incredible bond a child can have with a brother or sister who has a disability. This book also helps children who haven’t had a relationship with a child with a cognitive disability to understand such children’s thought processes and their need for order and routine.The illustrations are detailed ink drawings that simply but beautifully reflect the characters and what they are doing at the point in the text where they appear.

[sped517 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Neil’s sister Gerri has come back from the home for mentally challenged people and his mother is determined to never let her go back again. Gerri has never learned how to speak English, but she does often repeat what sounds like reindeer names to try to help get her point across. At night, she bangs her head against the wall, causing neighbors to make complaints to the landlord. Neil loves his sister and tries his best to help out, but his parents start arguing and Neil, who has never felt like he fits in, starts getting in trouble at school. When Neil’s dad moves out and pressures him to come with him, it doesn’t help the situation. But slowly, through the support of Neil and her mother, Gerri’s condition begins to improve. She learns a few words, the banging stops and she becomes more perceptive and thoughtful, charming the angry neighbors.While it is nice to see Gerri improve, the book could be much better written. Children will not likely pick up this book on their own.

[elenaestrada_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

“Summer of the Swans” by Betsy Byars received The Newberry Medal, it may be that the committee appreciated novels that attempted to present imperfect characters. Sara is fourteen, she apparently finds fault in everyone and everything around her. The main character is facing her reality. She sees how her and her siblings have been emotionally abandoned by their father, her controlling aunt who worries and nags, and most importantly her mentally ill brother who constantly needs to be taken care of. It is a coming of age story, as the young girl grapples with an imperfect world. However, life takes a sudden turn when her brother is lost in the forest. The community comes together to form a rescue party, and all of a sudden her priorities are in order because she recognizes all the love that is around her in an imperfect world. Ages 4th grade and Up

[shelf3employed · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Summer of the Swans is the classic story of Sara, a young, angst-filled teenager, who lives with her brain-damaged younger brother, Charlie, her older sister, Wanda, and her Aunt Willie. In the midst of a difficult summer in which Sara struggles with her self-confidence and indeed, her sense of self, she learns, through Charlie’s disappearance, the importance and true measure of love, family, and self.This is a timeless story; although, because of its age (first published in 1970 with numerous reprintings), it can almost read as historical fiction. Sara’s friend, Mary, does her hair up in “rollers” to attend a party. Charlie is called “retarded.” Aunt Willie, flustered by Charlie’s disappearance and unable to think clearly, makes an “operator-assisted” call; and the 1960s and 70s television icons, The Jolly Green Giant, Gentle Ben, and Green Acres are mentioned. Regardless of these dated references, however, this is a gentle, timeless, positive novel that still resonates with a generation raised on iTunes and Wii.

[1morechapter · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Summer of the Swans by Betsy Byars won the Newbery Medal in 1971. The title of the book refers to a little boy’s fascination with the birds. Charlie (who is mentally handicapped) and his sister Sara live with their Aunt Willie. The story begins with Sara’s dissatisfaction with herself and her life, but when Charlie goes missing, she puts all that behind her to help find her brother.While I appreciated Sara’s growth in the book and the tenderness between Sara and Charlie, it definitely isn’t one of the stronger Newberys that I’ve read. It is positive in its illustration that family relationships are more important than selfish concerns, but the book just didn’t grab me. To be fair, my conclusion could be based on the mediocre performance of the audio narration, which I didn’t at all care for.1970, 144 pp.

[debnance_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Sara is not enjoying her summer. She feels like she is on the other end of a teeter-totter, with a companion determined to jerk her here and there. Her family is difficult and she can’t seem to get along with them, especially her troubled brother, Charlie. It is only when Charlie gets lost while searching for the beautiful swans on the lake that Sara learns what is really important and how to deal with problems.The conversations in this book felt tied to their time period and, at first, I didn’t think I was going to like the book. But the search for Charlie completely changed my feelings about the book. The author could have easily turned the book into a movie-of-the-week, but she stayed away from that. Instead, she used the situation to help all her characters grow.