August 7 – Happy Birthday, Betsy Byars

nPosted on August 7, 2017

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nHave you ever read Summer of the Swans?

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nIn 1971, this children’s book won the Newbery Medal for today’s famous birthday, Betsy Byars. Of course, Byars has written other novels for kids you may enjoy.

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nByars was a kid and a teen during a very difficult time in U.S. history. During her childhood in North Carolina, the country was going through the Great Depression. And when she was high school age, World War II was raging all over the place.

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nAfter college, Byars married a graduate student who eventually became a professor of engineering. Byars raised four children and wrote for magazines – and eventually wrote books that were published.

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nHere are two fun facts about Byars:

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n(1) Both Betsy Byars and her husband Ed are licensed pilots. That’s cool but not that unusual…but, get this: they live on an airstrip, and the bottom floor of their house is an airplane hangar!!

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nThat’s really cool! And unusual!

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n(2) Two of Byars’s kids became children’s writers, too, and the three of them have worked on several novels together!

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nThat sounds fun!

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nAlso on this date:

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• nAugust holidays

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• nAugust birthdays

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• nHistorical anniversaries in August

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• nSeptember holidays

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• nSeptember birthdays

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• nHistorical anniversaries in September

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