I didn't like the sororities, but they were a big part of Betsy growing up, and a necessary part of the plot.

The Betsy love continues. I'm pretty sure that this book pushed me against sororities; it's lucky I went to a school that didn't have them!

So excited for more Joe!!!

RTC

I just love these books so much. One of the things I find so astonishing is that this book takes place at the turn of the century and written not too much later - Betsy's parents not only encourage their girls to go to college but they expect them to. Granted in this book, Betsy's dad seems to tell Julia that he wants her to give up her singing and get married - but it seems to be coming from a place of concern rather than just hoping she gets an MRS. degree. Becoming an Opera singer is HARD, it was hard then and it's hard today, and he doesn't want to see her struggle and come up empty. But ultimately, he sends her to Europe to pursue her passion. I love that change of heart and that support from her mother and father.

I also love that we got a few more glimpses of Joe - I can't wait to see him more in the next book (it is called Betsy and Joe, after all). And I love the realness of Betsy's struggles. Every year she sets out goals for herself, and every year she seems to take two steps forward and one step back, just like we all do in life. She's lovable AND fallible, kind AND thoughtless, boy crazy and serious, and I love that about her. I do really hope that she FINALLY wins the essay contest next year. You can do it, Betsy!

Charming!
Also Betsy and Joe

4+⭐️

This book was absolutely mind-numbing. The sorority stuff was so stupid and took up almost the entire thing.

Lots of high school hijinks. I suspect instead of being like Betsy, I’m more like Betsy’s 10-year-old sister Margaret, who is all like, “I would like to throw my first party ever, and invite only my dog and my cat.”

But Betsy shows signs of really growing up by the end, and I’m interested in seeing where her story goes next. I think the final two books will be a nice payoff.

i want to know why i find these books so much fun

In this third book of Betsy’s high school years, Betsy perches on the cusp of adulthood. She feels the march of time, realizes her high school career is half over, and makes many worthy new school year resolutions while she dreams and plans in her little rowboat that summer at Murmuring Lake. But, for most of the school year, she simply plays at being grown-up. She and her friends giggle and sigh over how “grown-up” they look in the latest fashions as they sit and chat together in the café – “just like the grown ups do.” She gets swept away with sister Julia’s enchanted tales of the university sororities and decides that her high school chums need to enter into those sacred bonds of sisterhood so they create their own. It’s all giddy good fun… at first. But it starts to prickle at Betsy’s conscience when her good-natured classmate Hazel begins to avoid her because Hazel is not part of the sorority. When the boys get up their own fraternity, it stings a bit more when Tony Markham declines to join because he feels such exclusiveness leaves too many good people out. Will Betsy’s Okto Deltas survive their junior year? Will Betsy make any headway with her resolve to become better friends with Joe Willard? And will Betsy’s grades rise to those lofty goals she set on Murmuring Lake?


By the end of her junior year, Betsy starts to realize what it truly means to be grown-up as she sees one of her classmates catapulted into adulthood before he’s had a chance to graduate high school. She also sees the way navigating high school without a solid home life has matured Tony and Joe beyond the rest of the high school crowd and she realizes how much her own parents have always looked out for her and decides she needs to start taking more responsibility for herself and not lean on them quite so heavily. That said, Betsy is never anything but grateful to her wonderful, loving parents and I am constantly impressed by them, as well. Most notably here I was impressed by their thoughtful consideration of Julia’s love for opera and her desire to study abroad. Julia continues to shine brightly in these books, despite being away at the university, and I love that she is still so firmly a part of the family (and these books) even though she is no longer under their roof. I also loved getting to know more about Betsy’s little sister Margaret in this book.

It’s impossible for me not to love these Betsy books. They feel like comfortable best friends, even though it’s my first time reading them. They are true “kindred spirit” books for me. . It is interesting because, in many ways, Betsy and I were very different in our teen years (I was probably more like Tacy, really) but I do share her love of writing and her close-knit family life. Yet, I am completely drawn into her experiences and find them so relatable. I was fascinated with Betsy and Julia’s fascination with sororities. (Personally, I always felt much the same as Tony and Mr. Ray did about them.) I was less fascinated by Betsy’s beau this go-around and felt she was just treading water while the boy she really likes went with a girl she really didn’t like. Betsy’s casual romances haven’t resonated with me since she had her first love in her freshman year and since I know who she ultimately ends up marrying. Readers, if you are new to these books and have the editions with the notes included DO NOT READ THE NOTES in any edition until you have finished the SERIES! Spoilers abound and you’ll know who will be the leading man of “Betsy’s Wedding”. It hasn’t diminished my enjoyment in the series by knowing, but it does take away a little of the anticipation and mystery.

A weirdly compelling book. Weirdly because Betsy isn't my type of girl at all - popular, giggly, with a sixteen-year-old head full of boys, parties, and social plans. Her older sister, who has her heart practically ripped out with the great question of Which Sorority Will She Join? -- isn't any more understandable to me.

And yet. And yet it's interesting, and warm, and clever, and in the simple language is profoundly well written. I sometimes had real trouble putting it down. What a gift to be able to tell your own life history without apologizing, justifying, agonizing, glorifying, or blushing!

If nothing else, it's a fascinating documentary of how the other half lives. There are a few girls from my teenage years that I understand better now.

So much fun to reread this beloved favorite from my childhood. Full review here: http://www.sunlitpages.com/2018/11/wh...