Betsy Byars Quotes

When Retta and Johnny get home, their father, Roy, the Colonel, and their father’s sweet, maternal, girlfriend is there. They all get a wake up call, they all realize each other’s, and their own imperfections. In the end, Brendelle, the girlfriend, points the family in the direction of improvement, and will hopefully come to replace their mother.

Retta, the responsible older sister trying to replace mom, frustrated by the lack of appreciation for her efforts and is hurt by the lack of loyalty from her brothers. Johnny, the pre-teen experiencing a need for rebellion and independence. He’s trying to make a splash because of the lack of attention he gets and how fed up he is with being told what to do.

The kids spend their nights at the Colonel’s pool, the neighbors disapprove of their family for this among other things, which doesn’t’ make a new family feel better at all. Their mother died and with her, the normalcy of their family died. Retta, the eldest, has tried her best to replace their mother, but Johnny, the middle child, is fed up with Retta.

it brings to life summers when kids disappeared for days at a time, when there were no planned activities, and each day held its own possibilities.

That pool gave the night swimmers a feeling of belonging and happiness, even though the pool didn’t belong to them, it made them feel good pretending. Reality was not as good as the life they pretended when they went out at night. Retta, Roy, and Johnny are the new kids in town. Their father doesn’t spend much time with them, he is usually at a club at night, there he sings his country music.

Retta is in charge of her two little brothers since her mom died. Her dad sleeps in and writes songs after working nights. School is out and she takes them to swim in a neighbor’s fancy pool. She’s determined that they experience things.

He thinks they are at the pool and he is determined to fearlessly cannonball into the pool and make a big loud splash that would wake the Colonel and he would be running ahead and lead them home and they would admire him and he would be in charge for the first time ever. That was what he hoped for anyway, but instead, he finds they aren’t there and the Colonel busts him and takes him home.

Retta, the eldest, has tried her best to replace their mother, but Johnny, the middle child, is fed up with Retta. He refuses to let her have any control over him. Desperate to try be a mother to him, she follows him one night when he slips out to be with a friend. She scolds him, but his friend sticks up for him, she can’t help be angry at both of them. Roy, who was left at home, is upset because he was left out of some “secret operation”.

After their mother passes away, Retta, Johnny, and Roy don’t have much parenting in their lives. Their dad is a country singer who keeps them well fed but isn’t around much. Older sister Retta takes control, leading her brothers on all sorts of unwise adventures and promising that one day they’ll have money, safety, and a nice home.

Johnny is relishing the annoyance he causes in his older sister and his younger brother. Roy is the young, stupid, naïve little kid. He always gave into his sister, loving her especially when she was like one of those “stern grocery store moms”. He gets frustrated when being left out because he seems like a young little pest. He is upset by the constant loss of the magic and happiness that was once in his life.

“Ezzie said every jungle emergency had a simple solution.”

“Emergency Four- Crocodile Attack. When attacked by a crocodile, prop a stick in its mouth and the crocodile is helpless.”

“Marv Hammerman would look at them, sizing them up, the two of them, this duo his mother had created for strength. Then with a faint smile Hammerman would reach out, grab them up like cymbals and clang them together.”

″‘I know you did something. I can always tell. Now, what happened?’ ‘Nothing, Mom. I didn’t do anything.‘”

“Emergency Five- Being Choked by a Boa Constrictor. When you were being strangled by a boa constrictor, Ezzie had said, what you had to do was taunt the boa constrictor and get him to bite you instead of strangle you.”

″‘If it makes you feel any better,’ his mother said, ‘Teddy Roosevelt had the same problem. I saw it on television. Boys used to pick on him and chase him.’ ‘No, it doesn’t,’ he said.”

“He was lonely. I, Mouse Fawley, do hereby swear that I feel lonely.”

″‘Some boys are going to kill me.’ ‘Not kill you, Benjie,’ she said. ‘No one is-’ He glanced quickly at her. ‘Well, how do I know what they’re going to do?‘”

“Emergency Three- Unexpected Charge of an Enraged Bull. Bulls have a blind spot in the center of their vision, so when being charged by a bull, you try to line yourself up with their blind spot.”

“Emergency Two- Attack by an Unfriendly Lion. Lion attack, Ezzie claimed, was an everyday occurrence in the jungle. What you had to do to survive was wait until the last moment, until the lion was upon you, and then you had to ram your arm all the way down the lion’s throat.”

“Wait, wait, you wait.′ Aunt Willie came onto the porch drying her hands on a dish towel. She stood at the top of the steps until Frank, a thin boy with red hair, brought the motor scooter to a stop. As he kicked down the stand she called out, ‘Frank, listen, save yourself some steps. Wanda’s not going anywhere on that motorcycle.”

“And it does too matter how you look, I can tell you that.′ She walked ahead angrily for a few steps, then waited for Charlie and took his hand again. ”

“Charlie sat in the sudden stillness, hunched over his knees, on the bottom step. The whole world seemed to have been turned off when Sara went into the Weiceks’ house, and he did not move for a long time. The only sound was the ticking of his watch.”

“And that was how it had been all summer. The elation of one moment would give way to tears the next, with no warning, for no reason.”

“The orange sneakers were typical of her mood. One minute Sara had been rather fond of them. The next she detested them, thought them as gross as her enormous feet, her impossible body, her ridiculous hair. ”

“Her brother Charlie was sitting on the top step and Sara sat down beside him. She held out her feet, looked at them, and said, ‘I like my orange sneakers, don’t you, Charlie?”

“Aunt Willie came and stood by Sara, and they watched Wanda climb on the back of the motor scooter. As Wanda and Frank drove off, Aunt Willie laughed again and said, ‘Next thing, you’ll be going off with some boy on a motorcycle.”

“Sara Godfrey was lying on the bed tying a kerchief on the dog, Boysie. ‘Hold your chin up, Boysie, will you?’ she said as she braced herself on one elbow.”

“Sara had started talking about the summer again, but he did not listen. He could tell from the tone of her voice that she was not really talking to him at all. He got up slowly and began to walk across the yard toward the tent.”

“In the house Wanda and Aunt Willie were still arguing. Sara could hear every word even out in the porch. Aunt Willie, who had been taking care of them since the death of their mother six years ago, was saying loudly, ‘No, not on a motorcycle. No motorcycle!”