Betsy Byars (1928-2020) was born in North Carolina. Part of her childhood was spent in the country raising animals, followed by several years in the city of Charlotte. After graduating from Queen’s College with a degree in English, Betsy married Edward Byars and began writing. Her first book, Clementine, was published in 1962. Byars wrote more than 65 books during her career. She had three daughters and a son and, in the early 2000s, wrote two dog-focused books in collaboration with her daughters: My Dog, My Hero (2002) and Dog Diaries (2007). Her novels often feature complex emotions and themes, which she blends with engaging narratives geared toward middle grade readers.

One of her notable works is the Newbery Medal award-winning The Summer of the Swans (1970), in which a flock of swans moves to a lake near Sara Godfrey’s home. Sara shows the swans to her younger brother, but then he goes missing when he goes to look at them in the middle of the night. Sara and a classmate go looking for Charlie together. Of winning the 1971 Newbery Medal, Byars said it “literally changed my life overnight […] For the first time in my life I started feeling like an author” (Maughan, Shannon.