Betsy Byars has been awarded both the Newbery Medal in 1971 for The Summer of the Swans and the American Book Award in 1981 for The Night Swimmers. Nancy Chambers, editor of the British critical journal Signal , has characterized her as "one of the ten best writers for children in the world." Her books have won high favor with children in the United States and Britain as well: of the twenty-five books she has published in the United States, twenty-two are currently in print; sixteen of her books are listed in British Books in Print 1985. Her books have been translated into at least nine languages, and several of her novels have been dramatized for television.

Betsy Cromer Byars was born in North Carolina in 1928 and grew up during the Depression. Her parents, George Guy and Nan Rugheimer Cromer, were well educated and avid readers; her mother had majored in drama...