I can't recommend this book (set of books) enough. They are really wonderful and every girl should read them. Betsy, Tacy, and Tib are three friends in Minnesota that live in the early 1900s, and like the Edward Eager "Magic" books, really do a great job of showing what it's like to be a kid. I got this book for my daughter for Christmas and we've been reading it off and on for the past month or two. Great great book!

Ok...now that I'm done, I still stand with this decision. Can't get enough of these books and definitely want to get all of them at some point. These books are such a snapshot of the early 1900s that they could even be used as a fun way to teach history. What 8 year old kid knows what knickers are or knows the songs that they mention in the books? (Well what adult knows those songs, for that matter?) Very very good books.

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It’s nice to have these four books together. Revisiting this series after about 30 years is pretty great. It is so relieving to know the stories hold up. Also, great escape for pandemic time. My favorite was Down Town.

Even though the Betsy books are so close to my heart, this was actually the first time I’d read these first four where she is younger! Now I can appreciate the other ones so much more after seeing the building blocks. I definitely cried at the end of the fourth one. Oh these books are just the sweetest piece of nostalgia.

Harper Perennial has made a project of reissuing the works of Maud Hart Lovelace during the last three years, and they’ve now worked their way back to the beginning. Unlike some of her later books featuring an older Betsy Ray, the earliest of Lovelace/’s autobiographical children’s novels about Betsy and her friends have rarely been out of print, but now the first four books in the series have been collected in a one-volume “Modern Classics” edition, featuring the original illustrations. Like the other reissues, this one includes supplemental material: biographies of the author and illustrator, background about the real-life models for characters and events in the stories, and forewords by contemporary authors who are fans of the books.

The stories in this volume are ones that I read and re-read and loved dearly when I was in the age range that Lovelace’s characters are here. Betsy Ray and Tacy Kelly are across-the-street neighbors who meet when they’/re five years old and soon become the inseparable Betsy-Tacy. Within a year or so, they are introduced to Tib Muller, who lives a few blocks away in an enchanting chocolate-colored house with a round tower room, and the twosome becomes a trio; Lovelace revisits them a couple of years later in Betsy-Tacy and Tib. At this stage, the novels take place at two-year intervals. When they all turn ten, the girls are grown-up enough to explore the immigrant settlement on the other side of the Big Hill; at twelve, they get to discover the attractions of downtown Deep Valley, Minnesota. The first two novels are largely episodic and not about much more than the girls'’ games and small adventures; there’s more overall plot to Betsy and Tacy Go Over the Big Hill and Betsy and Tacy Go Downtown.

These books grew out of stories that Lovelace told her daughter about her own childhood, and there are places where the writing has the feel of oral storytelling. It’'s also very strong on physical descriptions that effectively bring things to life in the reader’s mind. Like the best children’'s writing, it doesn'’t talk down to the child reader; however, there are some noticeable--and appropriate--differences in tone and style between these novels and the ones that follow Betsy and her friends through high school and into adulthood.

I haven'’t revisited the first Betsy-Tacy books for decades; I used to think I’'d read them again with my daughters if I had them, but since I ended up with a son, that didn'’t happen. And I never owned these books--they’'re closely associated with my own childhood love affair with the library, which was something I shared with Betsy. Reading them now is like a double dose of nostalgia for me; I’'m not only immersed in Betsy and Tacy’'s turn-of-the-(20th)century childhood, but I revisit my own childhood in the 1970s, when I read about them for the first (and second, and third) time. By then, we took things like cars and telephones for granted, but we were still able to roam our neighborhoods with a fair amount of freedom and play games that sprang mostly from our imaginations. I think the experience of childhood has changed more between my time and now than it did between Betsy’'s time and mine. But the experience of reading about Betsy, Tacy, and Tib'’s childhoods again was as enjoyable as it ever was--it hasn'’t gotten old--and I'’m glad I can finally put these books on my “keeper” shelf.

I just finished reading these books for the first time and couldn't imagine enjoying them as much as I did! I was searching for some of the books I had read in my tween years and stumbled upon this series, intrigued by the time period, lovely illustrations, and of course, Maud Hart Lovelace's name. I had to know what had kept these books popular for so long. I look forward to reading the rest of the series.

Sheer comfort.

My aunt have me this book and I'll never get rid of it. I love the illustrations and the adventures are fun too.

Outstanding. Delightful. Will be purchasing multiple copies for young friends. Lois Lenski's illustrations are the perfect accompaniment to Maud Hart Lovelace''s charming stories of growing up in the Midwest in the early years of the 20th century.

I read Betsy-Tacy several years ago with my book group and decided it was time to finish the series. Betsy-Tacy and Tib is my favorite of the four children’s books. Several of the antics made me laugh out loud—especially the chapter “Being Good.” Wanting to create a serious organization that will help them get to Heaven, the girls establish “The Christian Kindness Club.” The club, however, fails to live up to their expectations when they begin “punishing” themselves for being bad by adding rocks to the little bags they begin wearing around their necks. I’m still laughing. I wish I’d known about these books when I was a kid!

the Betsy-tacy books hold up surprisingly well, only a couple of eyebrow raises required… I wish I’d read them when I was little. I would have grabbed onto Betsy so tightly

(also while these are kids chapter books this one read is FOUR of them and in spirit, I claim that)

Delightful book about friendship and a simpler time.