Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Betsy-Tacy



A couple people guessed about which books my literary crushes came from. (I get a kick out of saying that. I had a literary crush.) :) Joe Willard is from the Betsy Tacy series by Maud Hart Lovelace. This is the cover that I grew up seeing. Too cute, no? The drawings in the first few books are by Lois Lenski. The later books were illustrated by Vera Neville. (Top picture.)

My mom read the series when she was little and introduced me when I was pretty young. I was hooked. I read the first several books several times as a child and I think I've read the series about once every two years since I was 10 or 12.

Growing up, I felt like Betsy and Tacy were two of my best friends. I was never as adventurous as they were, so I guess I lived vicariously through fictional characters as they went begging, cut each others' hair, rode in a horseless carriage for the first time, went to the library and the theater.

And then Betsy met Joe. He was reading a book and eating an apple. A man after my own heart. Sigh. He was funny, independent, intelligent...

In one of the last books, Betsy tours Europe practically by herself. She went to Munich, Venice, Oberammergau, Paris and London. (With a stop or two in between.)

All in all, I suppose I could trace a lot of things back to reading these books: my love of German, desire to go to Europe, and (according to my mom) my temptation for coffee.

Are you dying to read these books? I am. Wait! I am reading these books. It's that time again. This time, Morgan is reading them to me as I fall asleep at night. (Don't hate me because my husband's perfect.) I love it when he laughs out loud at some of their antics.

I hope you pick one up, if you get the chance.

5 comments:

ldsjaneite said...

My library only has 1 in the series. And I refuse to pick one up until I can be sure that I have plenty at my fingertips to read all at once. And all on your recommendation--for I'd never heard of them before I met you.

pcNut said...

Love the throw-in of Morgan :) Too cute.
It feels shameful calling you a best friend and to never have read some of your favorite books. I'll see if my library system carries it. How fun!:)
Love you Ra!

Kira said...

AHHH! The secrets out! I love Betsy, Tacy and Tib. Now everyone will be reading them and buying up the last copies of this out of print series.

Kristy Lynne said...

Oooooo! out of print. maybe I'll look it up just so I can find it first! ;)

As for husbands, it's nice to know that I'm not the only one who got the best, I'd feel bad if you hadn't too.

Oh, the irony that I knew Morgan before you did! (No offense Morgan, I do like Brian better.)

Sara Lyn said...

Try abebooks.com. You can get out of print books for great prices if you can get them anywhere for great prices. Sorry to let out the secret, Kira. :)

Someone in my old ward had a book by Maud Hart Lovelace on her couch. I asked if she had read Betsy-Tacy and we both went into raptures about the perfection of the series and everything Deep Valley. Hope y'all can find copies because they're treasures!