The Summer of the Swans Author:Betsy Cromer Byars Sometimes you don't know what you love -- until you almost lose it. — Sara's fourteenth summer was turning out to be the most confusing time of her life. Up until then, things had flowed smoothly, like the gliding swans on the lake. Now she wanted to fly away from everything -- her beautiful older sister, her bossy Aunty Willie, her remote father... more », and, most of all, from herself.