In the middle of this century, the Swift River towns in western Massachusetts were drowned—purchased by the government and flooded in order to form the Quabbin Reservoir. Letting Swift River Go tells of this dramatic event through the eyes of a young girl, Sally Jane, as she watches her thriving hometown transformed into a wilderness and then submerged.  Sally Jane's story vividly recalls life and changing times in rural America: playing by the Old Stone Mill and later watching it be torn down; harvesting maple sap and seeing those same trees uprooted; walking to school along a winding blacktop road and retrig many years later to float above that same road in a rowboat on the new reservoir.

Exquisite illustrations by two-time Caldect medalist Barbara Cooney capture the changing landscape and the people of New England in Jane Yolen's lyrical, evocative story.  Drawn from history, Letting Swift River Go proves the memory of a place can stay with you always.

From the dust jacket