Do you remember D.E.A.R? At my elementary school that meant “Drop Everything And Read,” something we typically did for 10 or 15 minutes every day. Best part of my day, really. As my TBR and Library piles are battling for supremacy and trying to sneak in around the review copies who have staked out places on my calendar, I’m thinking back to the simpler days of D.E.A.R., when I believed I had time to get to any book I wanted. And that, of course, got me fantasizing about a world where I really could just Drop Everything And Read for more than just 15 minutes a day.
There is a series that I totally missed out on as a child, and that makes me very sad. Happily, though, Harper Collins has been re-releasing these books over the past year or so and the fabulous Book Club Girl is a huge evangelist for them, and convinced me to try them.
Reader, they are the Betsy-Tacy books by Maud Hart Lovelace, and they are fabulous.
There are four Betsy-Tacy books that begin when Betsy and Tacy are in Kindergarten, I believe, and increase in reading difficulty as the girls age and the reader ages along with them. I haven’t read these yet, but if I have a little girl, you had better believe that I will be snapping them up right away.
The books I have begin with Betsy and Tacy’s freshman year of high school, and go through the two years following high school So far I have only read the first two works, which Harper Collins has bound in a single book (which is great, but also makes this confusing to talk about, just a little), “Heaven to Betsy” and “Betsy in Spite of Herself,” which I reviewed last year.
I loved it so much, but sadly I haven’t had a chance to get back to the other books (4 works packaged into 2 books) just yet, partially because I loaned them to my friend who just had a baby, figuring they were perfect post-partum reads: They are fun, yet not frivolous, easy, but not worthless. The Betsy-Tacy books are the same sort of deeply comforting read as “Anne of Green Gables.” I’ve only just gotten the books back, so if I could just Drop Everything and Read, I would start by finishing the Betsy-Tacy series, “Betsy Was a Junior” and “Betsy and Joe,” then “Betsy and the Great World” and “Betsy’s Wedding.”
However, since I don’t believe there is any such thing as too much Deep Valley (the place where Betsy and Tacy live in Minnesota), I wouldn’t stop there. Harper Collins has released two more editions of Lovelace’s work, “Emily of Deep Valley,” as well as another two work edition, “Carney’s House Party” and “Winona’s Pony Cart.”
If you want more information about “Betsy-Tacy,” Maud Hart Lovelace, or Deep Valley, I have links!
You could start with Mitali Perkins and Melissa Wiley, who wrote the forewords of the new editions
Meg Cabot wrote an essay in the Wall Street Journal about the books
Harper Collins allows you browse inside the books
Book Club Girl on Air will have a show featuring Mitali Perkins and Melissa Wiley on November 15
Or if you want to attend an event in person you can at the Magers & Quinn Booksellers Party in Minneapolis on November 7, the Mitali Perkins event at Brookline Booksmith on November 13, or with Melissa Wiley at the Readers, Inc. Betsy-Tacy rerelease party on November 20th.
I reread Betsy Tacy & Tib last spring and adored it, maybe even more than I did as a child (and I loved these books when I was a kid). This is a nice reminder that I need to reread the rest of them. I live not far from Mankato, where the author lived and which is the model for Deep Valley; I know there’s a museum too. Hmm…road trip!
Oh, Deep Valley! Betsy & Tacy are my absolute favorite books. I adore the new editions and must have them!! They are gorgeous!
I don’t know that I would have looked at these without the recommendation but they actually sound pretty charming!
Oh, they’re absolutely lovely!
Wow, I didn’t know Mitali wrote a forward for these! That’s neat. I’ve heard so much about these books. I don’t usually read kids books but I may have to make an exception.
They really brought to mind Anne of Green Gables and Little House on the Prairie, they aren’t anything like modern YA (not that there’s anything wrong with that, I enjoy it myself, but I know not everyone does).
This series was my mom’s favorite when she was younger and she still talks about Betsy and Tacy (and Tib!) all the time! I sent her a link to this entry and she was so excited she posted it on her Facebook.
She always talked about the books geared towards the younger set, so I didn’t even know there were “older” books in the series. Now I’m interested in checking them out!
Besty Tacy (and Tib too)- they always bring me to a place that I would have loved to have experienced….a time when simple pleasures really were cherished. I read my first Betsy Tacy book in 3rd grade…and have loved the simplicity of them since. I love to sit down and read them every few years……
Perhaps you can join us in Deep Valley in July 2012?? http://web.mac.com/btconvention/BT_Convention/Welcome.html
Ooh! That would be so fun!
You are so right…there is no such thing as too much Deep Valley! I am saving these for my holiday quiet-time treat. Now to make some quiet time….
Loved these books when I was a girl - my mother introduced them to me and I have not thought of them for ages. Thank you for the memories.
PB