Summer of the Swans
By Betsy Byars
Book Report by Lauren Ferrando
For this book report, I chose to read Summer of the Swans by Betsy Byars. This book won the Newbery Medal in the year of 1970. The main characters in this book are Sara, a girl who is at an age where she is trying to figure out who she is; Charlie, Sara's little brother who became disabled when he was young; Wanda, Sara's older sister who Sara wishes she were more like; and Aunt Willie, their legal guardian since their mother died. The story takes place in West Virginia in a small town near a rugged forest.
The story revolves around the main character,Sara. She is fifteen and not sure how she feels about herself or others. In the beginning of the book this is how Sara felt "I am not anything. I'm not cute. I'm not pretty. I'm not a good dancer. I'm not smart. I'm not popular. I'm nothing!" Things that happened during the summer really helped Sara discover who she is. For example, when she thought she didn't like her Aunt Willie she ended up understanding her better and when she thought Joe Melby was mean to Charlie by taking his watch and making fun of him he was actually the one standing up for him and got the watch back from others who took it. When suddenly Sara's handicapped brother got lost, she began to realize that things aren't as complicated as she thought they were. She started to see the good in people.
My favorite character was Joe Melby. Joe was the same age as Sara and one of her classmates. In the beginning of the story, Sara disliked Joe because she thought he stole her brother's watch but by the end of the story she realized he wasn't who she thought. He was actually a very kind and thoughtful person. Even though he wasn't the main character he played a big part in helping Sara discover who she is.
There were three things that made me like Joe. The first was he didn't hold a grudge when Sara had accused him of taking her brother Charlie's watch. The second reason was that he was nice to Charlie, a handicapped boy, and the third reason was that he helped and comforted Sara when Charlie was lost in the woods.
I really enjoyed reading Summer of the Swans. Not only was this book fun to read but I learned a lot. I learned that things are a lot less complicated than people think they are and other than family not much else matters. The author's writing was so descriptive I felt like I knew the characters and what they were feeling.
I really think it's nice that you can enjoy a book and learn a lot from it too. Betsy Byars writes about real feelings that other girls are likely to also have. This book is filled with lots of emotions: happy, sad, surprising, disappointing, kind, sweet, and funny. On a scale of one to ten, I would give this book a ten. I would definitely recommend this book to my friends!
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