One of the great joys of parenting is sharing beloved childhood books with your own children. The Trumpet of the Swan by E.B. White is one of my all time favorite children’s books. Recently, I shared this book with my own little brood and they found the book as delightful as I had hoped that they would.
Louis, the swan is the main character of the book, but he is no ordinary swan. He is born without the ability to trumpet, so his father steals a brass trumpet from a music store to give to his son. Louis spends his youth finding ways to pay back his father’s trumpet stealing debt in the most unusual ways, at least for a swan. One of Louis’ jobs is serenading visitors as they ride on the famous swan boats in Boston’s Public Garden.
Swan Paddle Boats are fixture of the lagoon at the center of Fair Park, and seemed like a perfect way to celebrate the culmination of our reading adventure. Alas, poor planning on my part meant that we finished the book in the winter when the swan boats were inoperable. When spring arrived, the boys were quick to remind me of my promise to ride the swan boats. If only we had a trumpet playing swan to lead us in a tune, the afternoon would have been perfect.
