Betsy's Little Star

The thing that makes me a bit dissatisfied with Haywood's books is that they're very episodic. Each chapter almost stands alone, and the books certainly do well enough. While this is True, in that children do live moment to moment, adventure to adventure, in Haywood's hands it's not sufficiently satisfying to me. Other books do it more successfully, imo, like the ones about Ramona Quimby, or Alice McKinley.

But for young children reading above grade level, or for families reading together, it works. In this one I particularly enjoyed the chapter about the red shoes (but apparently Mother has never read the Andersen fairy tale). This one charmed me; 3.5 stars rounded up.

I still have my copy of this book, which actually belonged to my mother as a child. As you'd expect it's a fairly old hardcover book. I loved Betsy's Little Star and read it many times, including the times my mom read it to me. It was published in 1950, and as a child of the early 1980's there were many things about the time period that intrigued and enchanted me. It only enhanced my love of red shoes. Until recently, I didn't know there were any other books featuring these characters and to date this is the only one I've read that I know of, but I loved it.

A book or two ago, Betsy wanted a little sister. Now she's got one--Star. Here are Star's adventures and misadventures, with the same characters as before and a few new ones, in the sweet and delightful, nameless world that Carolyn Haywood has created.

--Catherine

AR: 3.6