Beans on the Roof

By Betsy Byars and Melodye Rosales

Anna Bean goes to the roof in search of inspiration, and soon her family will follow her into a new world just a few floors above their home
The Bean children are not allowed to play on the roof of their apartment building. One evening Anna Bean goes up to the roof—not to play, but to be alone so she can write a poem for school. Her poetry writing fever is contagious; one by one, the rest of the Bean family visits the roof to write amongst pigeons and tall buildings—all except George, who can’t think of anything to write about. Beans on the Roof is a wonderful, inspiring story for young readers with a passion for creative writing. This ebook features an illustrated biography of Betsy Byars including rare images from the author’s personal collection.

Images from previously published versions of this content have been removed to avoid copyright infringement.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Open Road Media
• Release date: Feb 12, 2013
• ISBN: 9781453294253

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.

Book preview

EARLY BIRD BOOKS

FRESH EBOOK DEALS, DELIVERED DAILY

LOVE TO READ?

LOVE GREAT SALES?

GET FANTASTIC DEALS ON BESTSELLING EBOOKS

DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX EVERY DAY!

Beans on the Roof

Betsy Byars

Contents

A Bean on the Roof

Two Beans on the Roof

Three Beans on the Roof

Four Beans on the Roof

Five Beans on the Roof

One Bean on the Roof

A Bean in the Bedroom

Beans at the Table

Beans Together

A Biography of Betsy Byars

A Bean on the Roof

MAMA!

George ran into the kitchen.

Mama!

Please don’t shout, George, Mrs. Bean said.

I have to shout! You have to hear this! Anna is on the roof! I saw her from Frankie’s window!

I know Anna is on the roof, Mrs. Bean said.

But you told us never to play on the roof. You said we’d bother Mr. Brown’s rabbits. You said we’d run into the clotheslines and dirty the clothes.

Anna is not playing, George, Mrs. Bean said. Anna is sitting.

Oh.

George stopped. Then he said quickly, I’m going up there and sit too.

George had wanted to play on the roof since the day they moved into the apartment.

No, George, Mrs. Bean said.

George put his hands on his hips.

Why not? he said. That’s not fair. Anna gets to do everything. She gets to stay up late. She gets to ride the bus. Now she gets to sit on the roof. It’s not fair!

George, will you be quiet and listen? Anna is on the roof because it is the only place she can write her poem.

George’s mouth fell open.

Anna is writing a poem?

That’s right, George.

I didn’t know Anna knew how to write a poem.

"Yes, Anna is writing a poem. If

Reviews for Beans on the Roof

[elizajane_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

One of my favourite authors, this is a title I had never heard of before. An early chapter book for suggested ages 5-8 or up to about Gr. 3, this is an easy to read story about family. Anna has to write a poem for school and chooses to write about roofs, so her mother lets her go up on the apartment roof to write the poem. The two younger siblings want to go up as well so must promise not to bother Anna and have to write a roof poem as well. The story that follows is a simple tale of siblings, family and poetry. A nice story, though it does portray an '80s lifestyle thus feeling a bit out of date. One thing that struck my as absurd was the illustration of Anna; she has a mullet! I don't believe I've ever seen anyone in children's illustration with that hairstyle before and she looks absolutely awful. LOL. A decent enough story but not one of Byars best by any means.