The Night Swimmers

With their mother dead and their father working nights, Rhetta tries to be a mother to her two younger brothers.

I was visiting a friend in West Virginia who had a swimming pool, and one night as we were going out to eat, she said, "every time we go out, kids come over and swim in our pool, and I'm really worried someone is going to get hurt."

As soon as she said that, I thought, The Night Swimmers. I could hardly wait to get home and type out a title page. The Night Swimmers by Betsy Byars.

I was very pleased. I thought, now all I need is 4000 sentences and I've got a book.