Coast to Coast

by Betsy Byars

Realizing that sending her grandfather, Pop, to live in a nursing home will kill his already dying spirit, Birch urges Pop to take the cross-country plane flight he has always dreamed of, and to take Birch with him.

Genres: Young Adult, Fiction, Family Life

164 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1992

About the author

Betsy Byars was an American author of children's books. She wrote over sixty books for young people. Her first novel was published in 1962. Her novel Summer of the Swans won the 1971 Newbery Medal. She also received a National Book Award for Young People's Literature for The Night Swimmers and an Edgar Award for Wanted ... Mud Blossom!!

Daughters Betsy Duffey and Laurie Myers are also writers.

Reviews

[Laina SpareTime]

Cross-posted from my blog where there's more information on where I got my copy and links and everything.

This wasn’t particularly interesting either. I found Birch incredibly annoying as a narrator – she never stops talking but also never seems to, like, think about things? She just talks constantly. Her grandfather seems to be as annoyed by her as I was because half the time when she talks he ignores her. He doesn’t seem to actually care about anything she says.

There’s also no conflict whatsoever. There’s no stakes about them maybe not making it or anything bad that happens. Birch does go on a date with a 16 year old while being a 13 year old, though, and her grandfather let’s her, so that’s cool and not creepy at all.

This was really just a lot of nothing. I like Betsy Byars but this was not her best book at all. Not going to be keeping this one, either.

Representation: Nada

Content notes: It talks about infant death a couple times.

[Emma Justice · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was kind of flat, although it had a few “twists”, it was still a bit boring. I probably wouldn’t read it again but I would recommend to those who are looking for a calm book.

[Josiah · Rating 2 out of 5]

Betsy Byars at her very best is like a cross between E.L. Konigsburg, Ruth Sawyer and Ann M. Martin, but even the invocation of those three big names isn't quite enough to do her justice. Her characters are amazingly realistic, with natural tendencies toward the extreme just like most kids. They're usually very curious and observant about their world, but often quiet and introverted, as well, though some are of a more boisterous type. Betsy Byars's writing is wonderfully and surprisingly wise, turning little corners in our subconscious and tripping over realizations we've come to about life that we may not have even understood, ourselves, until Ms. Byars explained our own emotions in a way that made sense to us. She does all of this with a frank, plain style of writing that relies little on descriptive phrase and heavily on human interaction to lead her characters to the conclusions that they ultimately reach. Coast to Coast is yet another book from Betsy Byars that fits with everything I've written above, an honest, intelligent story about coming to peace with the people we love even when doing so requires the courage to ask the really difficult questions.

Birch, a thirteen-year-old girl who lives on the east coast with her parents, isn't very keen on the idea of her grandfather (Pop) selling off all his belongings and moving into a senior center. These days, Pop lacks the spark of personality that had always defined him back when Birch's grandmother was still living. Pop is even selling the small airplane that he's owned and loved for many years, and Birch is afraid that he'll never get back to being his old self again if there's nothing left of his former life to remind him of how good it was, and could be again. A little bit of that old sparkle seems to return, however, when Birch suggests to Pop that he take her on a short plane ride, their last one before the plane is gone forever. Pop sees no harm in making the excursion and taking Birch along with him, though flying together is different from how either of them expected it to be. When the opportunity suddenly arises to go on an even longer flight with Pop, one that could be life-changing for them both, Birch senses that the time has come to discuss with Pop a topic that she's been avoiding, but to which she needs a concrete resolution. With the long, scenic south coast of the United States as the breathtaking backdrop, Birch and Pop embark on a journey as significant for its emotional consequence as it will be for the once-in-a-lifetime experience of flying across the U.S. Birch may not like all the answers she finds, but she's going to learn the truth, and find out some surprising things about her grandfather, too, along the way.

If you were to ask me how I think Coast to Coast measures up against the author's best work―books like The Summer of the Swans, The Pinballs, The Computer Nut, The House of Wings and The Night Swimmers, among others―I'd have to say that it's probably at least a notch or two below them. Still, this is a very nice story, one that I greatly appreciated as I read it. I like the description of Pop's thoughts about selling his plane, how he compares it to Birch's late grandmother's feelings about any incomplete jigsaw puzzles that she ever made. If there was even one piece missing, the puzzle was no good in her eyes, and Pop sees his airplane as that piece in his life that will now be missing. It might just be one piece of the puzzle, but to him, nothing will ever be right without it. I'm also quite fond of the description of one particular moment of huge relief for Birch that she experiences on page fifty-eight of Coast to Coast: "She opened her eyes, and it was like something out of The Wizard of Oz. It was the moment when the black and white world suddenly turns to technicolor." I definitely know how that kind of moment of relief feels, when the worst that one is expecting suddenly turns out to be a lot less bad than one had feared. That description of it being like the moment when black and white turns to color in The Wizard of Oz resonates for me, as I'm sure it does for many others, because it's so true. That's exactly how it feels, and leave it to Betsy Byars to come up with the perfect metaphor to drive the point home.

In my opinion, everything by Betsy Byars is worth reading. I personally own more books that were written by her than by just about any other author, because I know that few others provide an excellent reading experience as consistently as Betsy Byars. Coast to Coast is a good novel, and I hope that it continues to bring her accolades down through the years.

[Books Kids Like · Rating 5 out of 5]

Birch and her mother are cleaning out Pop's house. He's tired of rattling around in it and has decided to move to a retirement home. Birch's mother undertakes the chore of sorting through Pop's things—packing some for the move and putting aside others for the yard sale. When Birch finds her grandmother's box of poems and reads the poem written at Birch's birth, her world turns topsy-turvy. The poem talks of a baby that gasps for life and then dies. Many explanations offer themselves. Is Birch adopted? Did her parents' real baby die at birth and was Birch adopted to take the baby's place? Birch can't confront her mother with her questions. She feels a great need to get away. When Pop tells Birch that he is happy to see the house and furniture go but unhappy about selling his Piper J-3 Cub, she sees the opportunity to run from her confused thoughts and feelings. Knowing that Pop had hoped to fly across the United States before his wife died, Birch whittles away at his resolve. On yard sale day, they leave without telling anyone. On their journey, Birch learns the story behind her grandmother’s poem.
©2024 Kathy Maxwell at https://bookskidslike.com

[J · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was an interesting book although it could have had some more meat added to the story. It was simple reading, easy to understand and from a child's view for the most part. It is a beautiful book how the changes of life can lead to a natural retreat from the world unless you are ready to take life by the horns and see what the ride may offer you.

The main problem that I had with the book were the characters were hard to make friends with. The main character was overly dramatic and whined almost all the time. I took her to be a younger aged child then found out that she was thirteen when she lied about her age so she could go on a date, her very first date wow! Her grandfather was just as much an emotionally closed box although he would seem to creak open then slam shut and her mother seemed to have a meltdown every time she opened her mouth.

[Joshua P · Rating 2 out of 5]

I thought the book was really slow and not a lot of action. Even still, it is a interesting book. It's about the adventure of a girl and her grandfather. I would say that it has a lot of flying and very interesting happenings. There is a journey all the way across America and back so Pop, Birch's grandpa, can see California. It doesn't fit me, but if you like those kind of books it will be a treat for you.

[Ashley · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a book that I liked to read when I was younger, so I got it from the library for nostalgia. It was a really easy read, Birch and Pop are easy-to-like characters, and the thought of flying across the USA in a little plane sounds like so much fun. The plot about Birch's mysterious birthday poem is pretty decent, too.

[Catherine Mustread · Rating 3 out of 5]

Birch encourages her grandfather to fl his old Piper Cub plane from South Carolina to California and then informs him she is coming too. She also comes to terms with the newly discovered fact that she had a twin sister who died in infancy.

[Sarah Sammis · Rating 3 out of 5]

A lot like Ann Can Fly but for older readers.

[Dawn · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book.

[Stephanie Zeuli]

I loved this book! I read it once or twice a year for years and years. I still have my original copy!

[Cws]

JEAR3Bya