Great trip back to childhood.

I don’t know how I missed this book series as a child, but I’m so happy my friend (and librarian) introduced me to it now. What a delight to read these uplifting childhood stories and watch Betsy and her friends grow from little five year olds to age twelve. I’m looking forward to reading the rest of the series. And if I ever have grandchildren, copies of this book will be sure to be under a Christmas tree!

You know how sometimes you have a friend that you don’t see or talk to for a while, but then you get together and it’s like no time has passed at all, because you still love each other just as much as you always did? That’s how these books are to me. (Side note: I say “these books” because this one is an anthology of the first four Betsy-Tacy books). I first discovered Betsy-Tacy in my school library, probably when I was around 8 years old, and I fell completely in love with these charming books. I owned copies of the first 6 books for a long time, and searched far and wide (before there was an internet for such things!) for the final books in the series. I think I was in high school or college when I finally found them! I loved them so much, I would sit and try to copy the illustrations, and sometimes traced them just so I could color them in and keep a piece of Deep Valley with me.

These books sat on my shelves for most of my life, and whenever I read something sad or scary (and hoo boy, in high school when I went through my horror book phase, I sure read some scary things), I’d stay up super late to finish the scary books - and then I’d have to stay up even later to read some of a Betsy-Tacy book to make me feel better.

I’m so happy to report that my love for these books has stood the test of time. It’s been at least 10 years since I last read them, but I love them just the same.

I can’t get over how wholesome this is.

This is a bind up of the first four Betsy-Tacy books and chronicles their growing up from age 6 to age 12. I was not introduced to these books as a child, unfortunately. The writing grows with the expectation of the reader and I liked the fourth book best. It appealed the most to my adult self. I do think I would have liked them a lot as a girl, however. Also, I did appreciate as an adult the message of tolerance in them considering their age and era. The girls are sympathetic to the Lebanese in the neighboring town. There is a strong message that girls should be allowed to pursue any profession, even architecture, if they want. And all three girls (Tib is a later addition) are from different Christian denominations but there is no issue with that whatsoever.

I loved the forwards written by Judy Blume and Ann M. Martin who were fans of the books from childhood. If I can get copies, I will certainly read the rest of the books in the series.

My 5-year-old is basically obsessed with this book (we've read it twice; note it is 700 pages). I dig it too. Maud Hart Lovelace understands a lot about childhood, and somehow writes about it genuinely without nodding too hard to parents in the process.

Re-reading The Betsy Tacy Treasury was like taking a step back in time both to Betsy and Tacy's time, as well as my own childhood 100 years later. It's been well over 15 years since I last read these books, and yet it was also so familiar. I remembered specific lines as I was reading them, although I couldn't have guessed what would happen next off the top of my head.

Maud Hart Lovelace perfectly captures the magic of childhood; she showcases the girls' vibrant world of pretend play in a way that perfectly reflects the way they see it, while simultaneously making it enjoyable for the adult reader who does not have the same suspension of disbelief.

Because so much of it was based on Lovelace's real life events and friendships, the characters feel so real and lovable. There's also a surprising depth of emotions and harder topics covered. I definitely teared up at the end of Betsy and Tacy Go Downtown.

Although I really loved these books as a kid, I somehow never read the rest of them. But as an adult, I am so excited to get to embark on this journey and learn more about Betsy, Tacy, and Tib <3

This is a wonderful book. I probably would not have liked it if I read it as a child because Betsy was a girl, and I wanted to be a boy and read about things that boys did. But as an adult, I love it. It is actually four books about three girls growing up around 1900 in Deep Valley, a small, prosperous town in Minnesota. It's a lovely, warm picture about what childhood could be if it hadn't been ruined by our violent, consumer society. The girls, Betsy, Tacey and Tib, do child things. They go out to play. They have picnics in the woods, by themselves, without anyone sending out search parties or collapsing in anxiety. They go sledding in the winter. They put on a circus in their yard and charge pins as admission. (Children did this back in the day. Why pins? I never knew.) When Betsy is 14, her father gives her 15 cents and tells her she can go downtown to the library on Saturdays, take out any book she wants at the library and have lunch. By herself.
Every parent should read this book and let their children do at least one thing a week by themselves. And throw the child's phone, tablet or laptop out the window.

Re-read to soothe the soul.

I would hope that every little girl met Betsy, Tacy, and Tib as a child, but, sadly, I don't think that's the case. I was fortunate enough to read these several times throughout my childhood, so I was thrilled when my friend Trish from TLC offered this new collection of the first four books in the series for review. If you aren't familiar, these books were written in the 1940's and 50's by Maud Hart Lovelace and are based on her own turn of the century childhood. Betsy, Tacy, and Tib are three little girls who meet when they are five years old and grow up together. These books follow the girls and their adventures at ages 5, 8, 10, and 12.

Writing
So cute! I honestly just love Maud Hart Lovelace and these books are so well written. I enjoyed them just as much as an adult as I did when I read them as a child. A lot of the writing is, obviously, dated, and the turn of the century setting is very different than the way children live now, but the books honestly transcend that. I don't think it's hard to identify with and care about these little girls regardless of the time differences. They remind me a lot of the Little House on the Prairie books that way. It's also a really fun way to teach kids about how things were when their grandparents were young.

Entertainment Value
It doesn't matter how old I get, I will always be entertained by the exploits of Betsy, Tacy, and Tib. I honestly just can't recommend the books more highly. If you have little girls or if you were ever a little girl, these are must-reads. They are seriously adorable. I also really liked the new formatting of this treasury. It has all the classic Lois Lenski illustrations as well as introductions from authors like Judy Bloom and Meg Cabot. And at the end there is a section with historical information about Maud Hart Lovelace and the time and setting. I'm actually adding the rest of the books in the series (also collected in treasuries like this one) for Christmas this year - no higher recommendation than that!

(This is a review of the whole series, by the way.)

Maud Hart Lovelace was born in 1892 in Mankato, Minnesota, the town she later immortalized as Deep Valley in her beloved series of Betsy-Tacy books. These follow the adventures of childhood friends Betsy Ray and Tacy Kelly from the age of five, when they meet for the first time at Betsy's birthday party, through the school years to marriage and beyond.

The books are based largely on Lovelace's own life, and I think this is what gives them their special quality of affectionate nostalgia and deep sense of place. The characters and the setting have history behind them; every year Betsy's family celebrates her parents' wedding anniversary by visiting her mother's girlhood home, where they were married, and on the drive home, their parents share stories of their childhood and Deep Valley's history.

Besides that, they're just plain charming. Betsy, Tacy, and all of their friends and family are vivid characters, and following along as they grow up, it's easy to feel a part of the group, to the extent that I always feel distressed when, in Betsy and Joe, an old friend of Betsy's suddenly drops out of the group and is barely ever mentioned again. (I was very relieved when I finally found a copy of Carney's House Party and found out what happened to him.)

The illustrations are a large part of the books' charm as well: Lois Lenski's distinctive style in the first four books, and Vera Neville's graceful drawings in the others.

Coming back to these books after many, many years was a delight, and reading about Betsy, Tacy, and Tib was like meeting old friends after too long apart. Maud Hart Lovelace's stories about the girls' adventures are charming and feel so real, exactly the kind of shenanigans kids will get up to (and they did—the stories are closely based on Lovelace's childhood). I also appreciate how this realness doesn't shy away from hard issues, such as Tacy's baby sister passing away in the first book, which prompts a lovely discussion of heaven between the two girls; the discrimination immigrants face, as shown in the third book when a Syrian girl is teased and shouted at by some schoolboys for dressing differently and not speaking English; the loneliness that can be felt even in small towns when one is an outsider, such as Mrs. Poppy feels as the wife of the hotel owner and former actress from the Twin Cities in the fourth book. Lovelace tackles these with a lot of heart and in ways children can easily understand.

I'm so glad these books still hold up, and I can't wait to continue my re-read of the series.