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Rating: 
Summary: Summer of the Swans
Review: "Charlie's missing. I'm going to see if he's down by the lake." Sara said to her best friend Mary. The Summer of the Swans by Betsy Byars is a book that anyone who likes family stories would love.Sara the main character, is a person who criticizes herself over everything wrong with herself. "I have the biggest feet in my school." She said. Wanda, Sara's older sister, is perfect in Sara's eyes. Nevertheless, she's still an older sister that's supportve of her siblings. "You should ignore the things that are wrong with you." Wanda told Sara. Aunt Willie, their grandma, is loving and caring but can sometimes be a little overprotective. "Wanda's not going anywhere on that motorcycle." Even though it was a harmless motor scoter. And then there's Sara and Wanda's brother, Charlie. He's mentally challenged and doesn't talk, but is loved anyway. The plot of the story is that Charlie dissapears. After Charlie and Sara sees the swans, Charlie gets fascinated by them. Sara had to haul Charlie from the lake. "Well, let's go home." "Come on, Charlie." "Come on." She finally stayed for five more minutes. He got so interested that in the morning, when he was gone, everyone suspected to find him by the lake. But was he? The symbolism in this story is Sara compared to the swans. An infant swan is very unsightly and blunt. This is how Sara felt at the beginning of the book. Towards the end, she thinks she's more loved and attractive. Just like a swan. Lovely and charming. I recommend this book to anyone ages 8-12 and a RL of 4.6. My overall opinion of this book on a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being the best, I'd give it a 6.
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Summary: Great Story About Sibling Bonds
Review: "The Summer of the Swans" is about the day when Sara Godfrey's mentally handicapped brother Charlie disappears after visiting the swans at the lake. Nobody is sure what happened to him, but everyone expects the worst because it's not typical for Charlie to have run off alone. Sara feels responsible for losing her brother since she's the closest to him. Aunt Willie also blames herself because she had promised Sara and Charlie's dead mother she would protect him--and now he's gone. Soon a search party gathers and everyone begins to look for the missing ten-year-old. Even though "The Summer of the Swans" is primarily about the search for Charlie, Sara's family life begins to open up and we discover the different relationships she has with her simple younger brother Charlie, her overbearing aunt Willie, her older sister Wanda, and her remote father. The recommended age group for this book is 8 - 12, but I would recommend it to anyone who has a mentally handicapped family member or can somehow relate with the story. It's easy reading and moves along rather quickly--the chapters are short and there are a few illustrations by Ted CoConis. "The Summer of the Swans" won the Newbery Award in 1971. The book was later made into a TV movie in 1974 (aka "Sara's Summer of the Swans"), which I never saw because it was made before I was born. I also recommend reading "The Falcon's Wing" by Dawna Lisa Buchanan (mentally handicapped family member).
Rating: 
Summary: The Summer of the Swans
Review: Betsy Byars gives readers insight on living and coping with a mentally handicapped person in this fiction book. Sara Godfrey is a young girl who lives in a town in West Virginia. Her mother is deceased and her father is almost nonexistent in her life. She lives with her aunt, an older sister, and a mentally handicapped brother, Charlie. Sara is having the worst summer of her life. Her lack of self-esteem and her frustration with Charlie provide the dark clouds shadowing over her life. Sara awakes one morning and discovers that Charlie is missing. Through her search for Charlie, she learns valuable lessons that enable her to love herself and be more patient with Charlie's disorientation. Betsy Byars' characterization of Sara as a stubborn, vengeful, insecure, young girl allows readers to empathize with her problems. Young readers can relate to the life dilemmas of Sara and learn to appreciate the small things that make life enjoyable. This is an excellent book that displays life with a handicapped person as challenging, but yet rewarding. Aunt Willie's humorous actions allow readers to laugh and appreciate the silliness of fussing over simple things. This Newbery Medal book contains humor, suspense, sorrow, and joy making it delightful reading for young and adult readers.
Rating:
Summary: SUMMER OF THE SWANS
Review: Ever heard of Betsy Byars. Well she is a great author who wrote Summer of the Swans. It is a story about a girl who is self-willed.
The main character in this book is Sara and her self-pity,"i have the biggest feet in the school." Charlie is her brother wo is mentally handicap and can't speak, Wanda,her sister, who she thinks is a prefectionist, Aunt Willie, their gardian for the time being, Mary, sara's best friend and most helpful,"Mom, I am going to help Sara look for Charlie," and Joe Melby,aka fink.
The story takes place in West Virginia in the summer at their house and lake There are two plots or problems in the story. One is Sara's fellings about herself and the other one is that charlie becomes missing in the middle of the book,"Sara, have you seen Charlie." and they can't find him.
The symbolism is explainable. The symbol is a swan. It is a swan because at the beginning of the book Sara feels bad herself and at the end feels good about herself. This is related to a swan because when swans are young the're not that pretty but when they grow up they're beatiful..
I really liked this book because it teaches you about life. I would reccomend this book to 6th through 8th graders because the problems that are in this book would be reccognozed by these ages. I really hope you read this book because it makes you look at life in a different angle.
Rating:
Summary: The summerr of the swans
Review: Summer of the Swans
By: Betsy Byars
Reviewed by: Cody Faas How would you like to stay with your Aunt instead of being with your mom and dad until you forget who they were?
The Summer of the Swans is a realistic fiction story about Sara. She is discontented with herself because she thinks looks are important. One-minute she thinks she has big feet the next minute she doesn't think her feet are big. Sara also thinks Charlie is retarded. Charlie is mentally retarded. Charlie has troubles with suckers because the top of the sucker always falls off. Charlie left in the middle of the night and nobody knew where he was until they saw his bed was empty. Sara, Joe, and Aunt Willie went looking for him. The searched the trees. If you want to find out the ending you have to read the book.
I think this book is good. If you like realistic fiction I think you should read this book. I think you should read this book because you will like the ending. I think this book is good for all ages. I think all ages should read this book because it tells a little bit about patens, age and a kid's life. The author helps us to know the characters by telling us a little bit about each character. Betsy Byars helps us know how much we love our families.
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Summary: My Review
Review: This book contains lots of problems. The book the Summer of the Swans is about a 14 year old girl who can't really decide about herself and her ideas about herself change throughout the novel.Sara's brother is called Charlie who is aged ten, but has the mind of a three year old due to a childhood illness. Sara cares for him like a mother. One night however Charlie goes out to see the swans, but gets lost. He panics and falls down into a ravine. Sara looks for Charlie with Joe Melby the alleged person who apparently stole Charlie's watch. Sara finds out that Joe is not what he thought he was and they become friends. Meanwhile Charlie is found by Sara and Joe and she really finds out how much he means to her. I liked this novel because it was well planned and had a moral. I believe that the novel is also good for people over 12 because plot of the story is sophisticated enough for older readers.
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