The Cartoonist
by Betsy Byars (The Bodley Head, 1978)
A downbeat exploration of emotional neglect and escapism. Byars is deft as a cartoonist herself in capturing Alfie’s circumstances: his drifting isolation from family and peers; his retreat into drawing and his nihilistic attic ascent. Not exactly a fun read, but affecting.
The Summer of the Swans
by Betsy Byars; ill. Ted CoConis (Viking, 1970 / Puffin, 1981)
A simple, almost innocuous story, lent narrative power by its non-pandering depiction of character. Charlie, who is mentally disabled, appears likely to be the focus, yet it is his 14-year-old sister Sara whose adolescent problems are lent perspective when Charlie goes missing.
The Cybil War
by Betsy Byars (Viking Children’s, 1981)
A middle-grade story of first love, and of recognising and dealing with a toxic friendship. Byars grounds her writing with small details and the tragicomic ironies of real life. The result is downhearted yet somehow still easy to read, and ultimately cathartic.
After the Goat Man
by Betsy Byars (The Bodley Head, 1974)
A remarkable middle grade novel. By delving deep into the protagonists’ wistful ruminations—especially poor overweight Harold’s—Byars not only guides her characters to a precocious philosophical maturity (cf. Peanuts) but also holds the reader’s attention despite there being almost no plot.
The Eighteenth Emergency
by Betsy Byars (Viking, 1973)
Benjie is running scared from the school Goliath, an emergency that offers no blithe, fanciful solutions such as have been devised for escaping shark attacks and the like. Betsy Byars’ well-rounded social survival tale both takes seriously yet contextualises Benjie’s all-consuming dread.