The Midnight Fox

Betsy Byars was born in 1928 and lived most of her life in the Carolinas. She grew up in North Carolina and earned a bachelor’s degree in English from Queens University of Charlotte. After moving to Illinois so that her husband, Ed, could pursue a graduate degree in engineering, she began writing. As she explained, “I didn’t know anyone, I had two little kids, I had to do something” (Slotnik, Daniel E. “Betsy Byars, Who Wrote of Deserted Children, Is Dead at 91.” The New York Times, 15 March 2020). Her writing career took off, and in 1968, her fifth book, The Midnight Fox, was published. Byars went on to publish more than 60 books but has said that The Midnight Fox is her favorite book, not only because it “was the first book that turned out the way I hoped it would” (“Home.” Betsy Byars, 2003), but also because it reflects aspects of her own life. For example, Petie and Tom’s headlines are headlines that she made up as a child with her sisters. Byars was a firm believer in writing about what she knew, and her summers spent in North Carolina come to life in her depictions of the hot, humid summer that