The Summer of the Swans

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.

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: Touching
Review: A touching novel. It's hard to describe how you will feel after reading it, as you have to read it to feel the emotion. Perhaps you can describe it as a nostalgic type of feeling after reading the book.

Rating:
Summary: The Sibling Bond
Review: The Summer of the Swans by Betsy Byars is an emotion-grabbing tale of a fourteen-year-old girl named Sarah who was the only one who really understood her little brother Charlie. Charlie, who was mentally handicapped, developed a very special bond with Sarah throughout the book. Even so, Sarah feels alone and that she has no one to talk to. Sarah's relationships with her siblings and friends play a very significant role in the plot of the book. She thinks of her older sister Wanda as bossy, sassy and rude, as any fourteen year old does to an older sibling. When Charlie gets lost in the middle of the night and cannot be found, it is then she realizes just how much she needs him and depends on him needing her and decides to go look for him on her own. It is then she realizes she is not alone. She finds Joe, a neighbor boy who she thinks is up to no good but was actually her friend she had along; she just wasn't looking for him. Throughout this brave adventure, Sarah realizes how she much she cares for him and she also learns a few things about herself. This emotional roller coaster takes the reader on a ride that has a happy ending.
Sarah's personality is very realistic for that of a fourteen-year-old girl. She wants loved, but wants independence. Wants needed, but doesn't want to be bothered. The story is set in many views to attract the reader. The third-person point of view helps to visualize everything that happened, but there are also views from Sarah and Charlie to help better understand where they are coming from and their thoughts. The stories themes ring over and over throughout the book. The reader is shown that he/she must give everyone a chance like Sarah gave Joe or they will not know what they may be missing out on. They are shown to love and appreciate the things that they have because one never knows when they might be gone.
The plot really brings several ideas together. Byars did a great job at formatting words together that weren't too challenging to make it impossible, but throwing in a few tougher vocabulary words to keep readers on their feet. Her main focus was her themes. In teaching lower elementary, a teacher knows that core subjects are important, but that is also a critical time for establishing values. Byars took this opportunity to work on both.
This book was definitely worthy of the Newbery Medal. It really concentrated on the things a young pre-teen goes through during such hard times as these. The book ends with a happy ending and a burst of confidence so that they are eager to go home and try to help someone also.

Ideas for Activities to use with this book: I would use this opportunity to incorporate family involvement into the picture. Ask the kids to think of a time that something good came out of a bad thing that happened in their life. Have them write a short "book" on it and illustrate it. These would be great for assessments or as a bulletin board demonstration also! Student might also enjoy looking up books to read on topics (difficulties in their lives) they have overcome. Grade-3rd-6th

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.

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: 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.

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.

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: Gold Medal Material!!
Review: Sara Godfrey is a fourteen year-old girl whose mother is dead; she also has an absentee father and a mentally slow little brother. She thinks she has big feet and that she is unattractive. In a nutshell, her life is unlivable. Sara, her brother Charlie and her sister Wanda live with their Aunt Willie who worries incessantly about everything and drives Sara crazy and she is slightly jealous of her sister, even though she would never admit it. However, she is sweet on her little brother. Even though Charlie never talks to Sara, she knows without a doubt that he always listens to her. He is the only one who ever does. Anyone who gives him a hard time has to answer to her.
One afternoon Sara takes Charlie to see the swans that have flown in and settled on the pond out side of their neighborhood. He is so enamored with them that he does not want to leave when it starts to get dark. Sara drags him, kicking the entire way home. The next morning everyone in the house wakes to a missing Charlie. Sara's world comes crashing down around her.
During her crusade to find her brother, Sara grows up. She learns to take life around her more seriously and to stop wallowing in self-pity. She realizes that life is not always easy to figure out and that we are all along on a different ride to the same destination. She even makes an unlikely friend along the way.
This book is a good one to give to any teenager going through the "oh, whoa is me" phase. It teaches us to open our eyes to the lives of others and realize that everyone has problems, some of which are worse than others, and that things usually work out. Nevertheless, even when they do not work out, we have to pick ourselves up and move on because we only get one go around in this ride we call life.