Even the kids' relationship with their mother is described in such a way that the reader misses her along with them, even though she never directly appears in the story. The relationships between the characters come to life as Retta interacts with her dad, her brothers, and her father's girlfriend.

As this book unfolds, the reader begins to picture the house where Retta's family lives, the clothes they each wear, and the food they eat. Since Byars is such a minimalist when it comes to the scale of her stories, she is able to spend much more effort (and text) on minor details. Like many other Byars stories, The Night Swimmers has a very small, contained setting populated by just a few characters. I have mentioned before that I think Betsy Byars is a masterful writer, and this book just further proves that point for me. Retta goes to great lengths to make sure she and her brothers are safe, and that they never get caught, but it is only when one of them encounters real danger in the pool that things really start to improve for her family. The kids are not supposed to use the pool, which belongs to the Captain, but Retta still feels somehow entitled to use it, as though it makes up for some miscalculation of the universe that allows her particular family to miss out on a chance at a better life.

Wanting them to have an exciting taste of the more affluent lifestyle she believes they deserve, she takes the boys swimming each night at a pool in another neighborhood. Retta's mother is dead, and her father, a country singer, works nights performing his music, so Retta is left home to tend to her two younger brothers, Johnny and Roy. The Night Swimmers by Betsy Byars was the 1981 National Book Award winner for children's fiction.

The night swimmers betsy byars