The Trumpet of the Swan by E. B. White. Does that name sound familiar? E. B. White also wrote Charlotte's Web - my absolute favorite children's book of all time! Because of that fact, we picked up The Trumpet of the Swan and read it this week.

We liked it! Was it as good as Charlotte's Web? No, but it was a fun book to read. Entertaining. Laugh-out-loud funny in some spots. Educational as well.

The first few chapters seem very realistic. A boy is camping in Canada and finds some trumpeter swans on a pond. He is fascinated by the swans, as they swim and nest and eventually hatch their young. Then the story turns into fantasy, as one of the young swans takes a liking to the boy. They become friends. The boy helps the swan, who, as it turns out, has no voice and cannot talk, beep, squawk or trumpet as a swan should. The swan ends up learning to read and write, as well as learning to play the trumpet (since he could not do this naturally). In the end, all is well.

This is a great story to teach the "when life gives you lemons, make lemonade" philosophy of optimism. Louis, the swan, learns to communicate in other ways since he has no voice. He is able to accomplish much with his life. He eventually fell in love and wooed his lovely Serena and became a father, despite his lack of natural "trumpeting" ability. His life lacked nothing because he chose not to sit on the sidelines and throw a pity party over his misfortune.

The Trumpet of the Swan was a fun read that I would definitely recommend to others.