Betsy Byars (née Cromer; August 7, 1928 – February 26, 2020) was an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

author An author is the writer of a book, article, play, mostly written work. A broader definition of the word "author" states: "''An author is "the person who originated or gave existence to anything" and whose authorship determines responsibility f ...

children's books A child (plural, : children) is a human being between the stages of childbirth, birth and puberty, or between the Development of the human body, developmental period of infancy and puberty. The legal definition of ''child'' generally refers ...

. Her novel ''

Summer of the Swans ''Summer of the Swans'' is a children's novel by Betsy Byars about fourteen-year-old Sara Godfrey's search for her missing, mentally challenged brother Charlie. It won the Newbery Medal in 1971. ''Summer of the Swans'' was adapted for television ...

'' won the 1971 Newbery Medal.Author's website She has also received a

National Book Award for Young People's Literature The National Book Award for Young People's Literature is one of five annual National Book Awards, which are given by the National Book Foundation (NBF) to recognize outstanding literary work by US citizens. They are awards "by writers to writers".< ...

for ''The Night Swimmers'' (1980)"National Book Awards – 1981"
National Book Foundation. Retrieved 2012-02-27. and an

Edgar Award The Edgar Allan Poe Awards, popularly called the Edgars, are presented every year by the Mystery Writers of America, based in New York City. Named after American writer Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849), a pioneer in the genre, the awards honor the bes ...

for ''Wanted ... Mud Blossom'' (1991). Byars has been called "one of the ten best writers for children in the world" by Nancy Chambers, editor of the British literary journal ''Signal'', and in 1987 Byars received the

Regina Medal The Regina Medal is a literary award conferred annually by the U.S.-based Catholic Library Association. It recognizes one living person for "continued, distinguished contribution to children's literature without regard to the nature of the contri ...

for lifetime achievement from the Catholic Library Association."Regina Medal"
. Catholic Library Association. Retrieved 2013-11-24. Due to the popularity of her books with children, she was listed as one of the Educational Paperback Association's top 100 authors.

Biography

Betsy Cromer Byars was born August 7, 1928, in

Charlotte, North Carolina Charlotte ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 census, making Charlotte the 16th-most populo ...

to George Guy, a cotton mill executive, and Nan (''

née A birth name is the name of a person given upon birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name, or the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a birth certificate or birth re ...

'' Rugheimer) Cromer, a homemaker. Her childhood was spent during the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

. She attended

Furman University Furman University is a private liberal arts university in Greenville, South Carolina. Founded in 1826 and named for the clergyman Richard Furman, Furman University is the oldest private institution of higher learning in South Carolina. It became ...

Greenville, South Carolina Greenville (; locally ) is a city in and the seat of Greenville County, South Carolina, United States. With a population of 70,720 at the 2020 census, it is the sixth-largest city in the state. Greenville is located approximately halfway be ...

, from 1946 to 1948, before transferring to

Queens College Queens College (QC) is a public college in the Queens borough of New York City. It is part of the City University of New York system. Its 80-acre campus is primarily located in Flushing, Queens. It has a student body representing more than 170 ...

in Charlotte, where she graduated in 1950 with a

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...

in English. After graduating, Cromer met Edward Ford Byars, a graduate student in engineering at Clemson University, and they married on June 24, 1950. They had three daughters and a son between 1951 and 1958: Laurie, Betsy Ann, Nan, and Guy. In 1956, the family moved from

Clemson, South Carolina Clemson () is a city in Pickens and Anderson counties in the U.S. state of South Carolina. Clemson is home to Clemson University; in 2015, ''the Princeton Review'' cited the town of Clemson as ranking #1 in the United States for " town-and-gown" ...

, to

Urbana, Illinois Urbana ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Champaign County, Illinois, United States. As of the 2020 census, Urbana had a population of 38,336. As of the 2010 United States Census, Urbana is the List of municipalities in Illinois, 38th-most pop ...

, where Edward pursued further graduate work at the

University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the University ...

, eventually becoming a professor of engineering at

West Virginia University West Virginia University (WVU) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Morgantown, West Virginia. Its other campuses are those of the West Virginia University Institute of Technology in Beckley, Potomac State College ...

in 1960. While her husband was busy during the day with his studies, Betsy began writing for magazines. Her work was eventually featured in ''

The Saturday Evening Post ''The Saturday Evening Post'' is an American magazine, currently published six times a year. It was issued weekly under this title from 1897 until 1963, then every two weeks until 1969. From the 1920s to the 1960s, it was one of the most widely c ...

'', ''

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'', ''Everywoman's Magazine'', and ''

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''. Her first novel, ''Clementine'', was published in 1962. Betsy and Ed Byars are both licensed aircraft pilots and lived on an airstrip in Seneca, South Carolina, the bottom floor of their house being a hangar. Daughters Betsy Duffey and Laurie Myers are also children's writers. Byars moved back to Seneca in 1980 and retired in 1990. She died in Seneca on February 26, 2020.

Works

*1962 ''Clementine'' *1965 ''The Dancing Camel'' *1966 ''Rama, the Gypsy Cat'' *1967 ''The Groober'' *1968 ''The Midnight Fox'' *1970 ''

'' *1971 ''Go and Hush the Baby'' *1972 ''The House of Wings'' *1973 ''The Eighteenth Emergency'' —winner of the

Dorothy Canfield Fisher Children's Book Award The Vermont Golden Dome Book Award (formerly the Dorothy Canfield Fisher Children's Book Award) annually recognizes one new American children's book selected by the vote of Vermont schoolchildren. It was inaugurated in 1957. The award is co-spon ...

*1974 ''After the Goat Man'' *1975 The Lace Snail *1976 ''The TV Kid'' *1977 ''

The Pinballs ''The Pinballs'' is a 1976 young adult novel by American author Betsy Byars. It is about three foster children, Carlie, Harvey and Thomas J., who have been taken in by the Masons, a couple who have cared for many other foster children and also hav ...

'' *1978 ''

The Cartoonist ''The Cartoonist: Jeff Smith, Bone and the Changing Face of Comics'' is a 2009 documentary about the life and art of Jeff Smith, the creator of the ''Bone'' comic series and described as one of America's greatest living cartoonists. The feature- ...

'' *1978 ''The Winged Colt of Casa Mia'' *1979 ''Good-bye, Chicken Little'' *1979 ''Trouble River'' *1980 ''The Night Swimmers'' —

National Book Award The National Book Awards are a set of annual U.S. literary awards. At the final National Book Awards Ceremony every November, the National Book Foundation presents the National Book Awards and two lifetime achievement awards to authors. The Nat ...

, Children's Fiction *1981 ''The Cybil War'' *1982 ''The Animal, The Vegetable, and John D. Jones'' *1982 ''The Two-Thousand-Pound Goldfish'' *1983 ''The Glory Girl'' *1984 '' The Computer Nut'' *1985 ''Cracker Jackson'' *1991 ''The Seven Treasure Hunts'' *1992 ''Coast to Coast'' *1993 ''McMummy'' *1995 ''Growing Up Stories'' *1996 ''The Joy Boys'' *1996 ''

Tornado A tornado is a violently rotating column of air that is in contact with both the surface of the Earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud. It is often referred to as a twister, whirlwind or cyclone, altho ...

'' (illustrated by

Doron Ben-Ami Doron Ben-Ami (born 1965; he, דורון בן עמי) is an Israeli archaeologist. Ben-Ami earned his PhD at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in 2003 where he was a member of the Institute of Archaeology as of 2009. He is the discoverer of the ...

) *2000 '' Me Tarzan'' *2002 '' Keeper of the Doves'' *2004 ''Top Teen Stories'' (contribution)

Series

;Ant *1996 ''My Brother, Ant'' *1997 ''Ant Plays Bear'' ;Bingo Brown *1988 ''The Burning Questions of Bingo Brown'' *1991 ''Bingo Brown and the Language of Love'' *1992 ''Bingo Brown, Gypsy Lover'' *1992 ''Bingo Brown's Guide to Romance'' ;Boo *2006 ''Boo's Dinosaur'' *2009 ''Boo's Surprise'' ;Blossom Family *1986 ''The Not-Just-Anybody Family'' *1986 ''The Blossoms Meet the Vulture Lady'' *1987 ''The Blossoms and the Green Phantom'' *1987 ''A Blossom Promise'' *1991 ''Wanted...Mud Blossom'' ;Golly Sisters *1985 ''The Golly Sisters Go West'' *1990 ''Hooray for the Golly Sisters'' *1994 ''The Golly Sisters Ride Again" ;Herculeah Jones *1994 ''The Dark Stairs'' *1995 ''Tarot Says Beware'' *1996 ''Dead Letter'' *1997 ''Death's Door'' *1998 ''Disappearing Acts'' *2006 ''King of Murder'' *2006 ''The Black Tower''

Collaborations with daughters Betsy Duffey and Laurie Myers

*2000 ''My Dog, My Hero'' *2004 ''The SOS File'' *2007 ''Dog Diaries'' *2010 ''Cat Diaries''

Memoir

*1991 ''The Moon and I''

Short stories

* ''Look back at the Sea''

References

;Citations
Autobiography
Retrieved July 2, 2006.
Betsy Byars
Random House, Inc. Retrieved July 2, 2006.

Retrieved August 5, 2006.

External links

* *
Betsy Byars Papers Part I
an
Part II
at Clemson University Special Collections Library *
Betsey Duffey
at LC Authorities, with 27 records
Laurie Myers
at LC Authorities, with 11 records {{DEFAULTSORT:Byars, Betsy 1928 births 2020 deaths 20th-century American novelists 20th-century American short story writers 20th-century American women writers 21st-century American novelists 21st-century American short story writers 21st-century American women writers American children's writers American historical novelists American memoirists American women aviators American women children's writers American women novelists American women short story writers Edgar Award winners Furman University alumni National Book Award for Young People's Literature winners Newbery Medal winners Novelists from North Carolina Novelists from South Carolina Queens University of Charlotte alumni Writers of historical fiction set in the modern age Writers from Charlotte, North Carolina