#41 in Middle grade
The Trumpet of the Swan
- 210
- Pages
- about 4 h
- Reading time
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Our view
“The Trumpet of the Swan” is a warm, generous children’s story about finding your own way to be heard. Louis, a trumpeter swan who has had no voice since birth, learns to play the trumpet to win over a swan named Serena. Some readers find its theme reaches adults as well as children. Not every reader warms to it, though: the long lists strike some as padding and the message about freedom as muddled.
The view of the BookRank editors, written from readers’ ratings and comments. It does not affect the score or the book’s place in a ranking.
About the book
The Trumpet of the Swan is a children's novel by E. B. White published in 1970. It tells the story of Louis, a trumpeter swan born without a voice who overcomes this difficulty by learning to play a trumpet in order to impress a beautiful swan named Serena.
Where the score comes from
The sources average 8.1 across 93 ratings — not yet many, so the reader vote carries 39% of the weight and the rest pulls toward the Middle grade average of 8.0. That is how 8.0 comes out.
| Source | Average | Ratings | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open Library | 9.0 | 22 | 24% |
| Hardcover | 7.9 | 71 | 76% |
Frequently asked
What age is The Trumpet of the Swan for?
The Trumpet of the Swan sits on the Children shelf in the sources we use, which by convention means roughly ages 5–10. This is a guide from the book’s category, not a publisher’s age rating. It has 210 pages — shorter than 70% of the ranked books in Middle grade.
If you liked this
Same shelf — Middle grade — with scores between 7.9 and 8.1, closest to this book.
