Betsy-Tacy

I’m reading this book for the first time as an adult. Somehow I didn’t end up reading this series as a kid, but if I had, I would have loved it! So reading as an adult, imagine my surprise when I was on the verge of tears, not once, not twice, but FIVE separate times over the brief duration of this book. It’s such a beautiful picture of true friendship between two little girls! It made me think of my own close friendships over the course of my life. This is what it looks like when you deeply love and enjoy spending time with your friend! Since Maud Hart Lovelace based this book on her childhood friendships, she totally gets it.

The writing was especially impressive. Lovelace kept the vocabulary simple enough that children could show more attempt to read it on their own without getting stuck on too many big words, but she also infused it with meaning and depth. It ends up being the perfect combination. Lovelace also remembers the specific ins and outs of little kids playing pretend games, and accurately depicts that, too. I loved getting to spend time in the cozy, warm safeness of the world she created. Definitely continuing on with the series! show less

"Unexpectedly delightful" is a phrase that keeps popping into my head, as I sit here considering how best to describe Maud Hart Lovelace's Betsy-Tacy, the first in a long series of books about two (eventually three) young girls growing up in Minnesota in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Begun at an unfortunate time, when a dreadful head cold, and a feeling of being out of charity with the world made the author's somewhat expository style rather irksome for me, the story won me over by degrees, gently unfolding its tale of two young girls who face the joys and sorrows of being five-year-olds together.

When a new family move into the house across the street, Betsy Ray hopes that they will have a girl her age, and after an show more initial misunderstanding, she finds a best friend in Tacy (Anastacia) Kelly. The two are soon inseparable: they climb the Hill together, picnic together, go to school together, and play with paper dolls together. Their imaginary games, often fueled by Betsy's penchant for storytelling, are so well depicted, that the reader senses Lovelace's fond enjoyment, as well as her understanding of the centrality of such play in the life of the child.

But life, even for five-year-olds, is not all sweetness and light, and sorrow does touch the lives of Betsy-Tacy, just as change - inevitable and painful - makes itself felt. The death of Baby Bee, Tacy's infant sister, is handled by Lovelace with pitch-perfect sensitivity. The mystery and wonder of a young child's first encounter with death is effortlessly joined to the sorrow of loss. I found the scene on the early morning hillside, where Betsy and Tacy discuss Bee's death, deeply moving.

Lovelace's sensitivity to the feelings of the child, how the world appears to her, is demonstrated time and again throughout Betsy-Tacy. She understands that death is something terrible and yet matter-of-fact - in the way that so many things are terrible and matter-of-fact to the child who must experience them for the first time. Her depiction of Betsy's initial sorrow, at the birth of her younger sister Margaret, is a realistic portrayal of a child's natural ambiguity at having "her" place in the family usurped.

First published in 1940, and depicting an earlier time, Betsy-Tacy nevertheless has much to offer the contemporary reader, and seems as relevant in its depiction of young girls, as when it was first written. I find myself wishing that I had discovered these books as a child, but as one can only go forward, I'll content myself with having discovered them now. Thank you, Constance, Wendy, Melody, Lisa and Ginny! show less

I enjoyed this more than I thought I would. As a child, I remember not caring for it, even though I grew up in Minnesota. I may have already been too advanced as a reader whereas if I had happened across it a couple of years earlier, I might have been entranced. As an adult, I find it a sweet story of two young girls having mild, realistic adventures and already, at the age of five, facing life's difficult times as well as the fun times. It is easy to see one's own childhood in their games and friendship and look back on it with nostalgia. Now I want to read more of the books.

The Short of It:

Delightful, fun and incredibly charming!

The Rest of It:

My daughter is new to reading so we are always looking for books to read together so when Book Club Girl mentioned Betsy-Tacy I was like "Who in the world is Betsy Tacy?" Well, Betsy and Tacy are actually two girls who happen to be best friends. Do you remember when you were young and how you used to play until the street lights came on? How you would carve that old refrigerator box into a playhouse because video and computer games didn't exist? Well, this book is all that and so much more!

Betsy-Tacy is the first book in the series and is made up of short stories about such things as picnics, paper dolls and the first day of school. There are hills to climb and show more family dinners to be had. This book is just charming. My daughter said that she is Tacy and that I am Betsy. We sit on the couch and look forward to the adventures that these girls share.

Even for me, an older reader, I find that it's quite easy to slip back into childhood while reading these stories. After a long day a work, who wouldn't want to slip back into childhood for a little bit of an escape? If you have never read a Betsy-Tacy book, I urge you to check them out. My daughter and I are really enjoying them but I think I am enjoying them a little bit more. Don't tell! show less

First sentence: It was difficult, later, to think of a time when Betsy and Tacy had not been friends.

Premise/plot: Betsy meets Tacy, her new neighbor, at her fifth birthday party. The two girls become instant best friends, near sisters. These two are inseparable. They want to do everything together--always together. This book focuses on their time together--at home, at school, etc. The book concludes with the two meeting another little girl near their own age, Tb.

My thoughts: I have no memory of reading Betsy-Tacy growing up. I'd heard of the book series certainly. But if I'm honest, I thought it was literally about ONE girl named Betsy-Tacy. These books are set around the turn of the twentieth century. Yes, it was published originally show more in 1940...but Betsy and company would have been born in the 1890s.

The book is interesting in that it feels TIMELESS and time-specific. The two things shouldn't both be true. The book feels timeless because it captures childhood realistically--family life, friendship, thoughts and feelings about school. Some things never change. It feels time-specific because of the descriptions and illustrations. It feels delightfully historic. I like that about it. show less

9/2012 This book gets better every time I read it.

12/2009 I have loved this book so long I can't remember when first I read it. I certainly didn't have two numbers in my age. I've re-read it countless times, and every time I've read it as an adult, I marvel at Lovelace's skill. Told from the perspective of a five-year-old girl, it rings true on every possible level. Read from the perspective of a forty-five-year-old woman, it's poignant and heartbreaking and nostalgic and delightful. This is my first re-read since I made the journey back to Mankato (the real-life Deep Valley) and it's pretty wonderful to read about the houses in which I have stood, tears in my eyes.

I cannot recommend this book, and the books which follow it, enough.

Betsy-Tacy is the first book in the delightful series by Maud Hart Lovelace. Five-year-old Betsy longs for a best friend and finds one when Tacy moves in across the street. Together they have many adventures, including going on picnics, selling sand, playing with paper dolls, going "calling" on neighbors, climbing The Big Hill, and going to school for the first time.

The Betsy-Tacy books were partially autobiographical and Lovelace perfectly captures the innocence and magic of childhood. Betsy's imaginative stories, such as riding a feather, are delightful. Even though they are children, Betsy and Tacy's lives are, as in real life, not always happy. The death of Tacy's baby sister, left tears in my eyes yet joy at the innocence of youth show more as Betsy and Tacy leave an Easter Egg in a tree with the belief that a bird will carry it up to Heaven and give it to Tacy's sister.

I loved these books as a child and I'm happy to say I still love them as an adult. This is a great book for young and old. show less