As with the previous six books, this seventh Betsy-Tacy book was exceedingly well written.

Maud Hart Lovelace = a genius.

I can’t otherwise explain why I care so much about the characters and the story when I don’t give a hang about fashion or hairstyles or many of the other frequently mentioned things in the book/these books. I will admit the very, very, very frequently mentioned pompadour hairstyle ended up irritating me slightly.

Betsy and her crowd are growing up in a way that feels completely authentic. As I’ve said with earlier books in this series: there is not one false note.

I was warned by a couple of Goodreads friends that this was the hardest book in the series to read in terms of emotional distress, but I’m used to Betsy at this developmental stage now, so endearing but with many flaws and challenges too. For me the hardest to read by far was Heaven to Betsy because there was such a change in Betsy & Tacy & Company from Betsy and Tacy Go Downtown. I do feel particularly fond of the first four books, but once I got past most of the fifth book, I have also thoroughly enjoyed the rest of the series so far.

I am not a fan of sororities and found the main plot line about them interesting. I reveled in the quote at the top of (this edition's) page 205. (no spoilers if I don’t say anything about content)

I love the emotional warmth shown between friends and family members, and I appreciate Betsy’s good intentions, and found amusing such things as procrastinating about homework. Adolescence (at least a common experience of it) is captured so well. I had different experiences, but it all seemed somewhat familiar, for me at least secondhand if not firsthand. The food always sounds wonderful, including the foods I’ve never enjoyed, even as an omnivore. I also really enjoyed Betsy’s little sister Margaret in this book; it’s the first time she felt at all fleshed out as a character and I appreciated that.

I’m really not as fond of the illustrations by the illustrator who does these books as the illustrator who did the first four books, although that illustrator’s style would not fit the later books.

One thing, if you’ve read this far: For those Betsy-Tacy aficionados: Somebody please explain Joe & Phyllis to me. Why?! Thanks!

This was way too real.
Betsy is me. A Grade 11, middle child, Baptist, girl whose her older sister going off to her first year of post-secondary that has to do with Germany.... Story of my life.
I randomly found this book in the YA section of my library while looking for a Victorian Era book. It was a very random find, but insanely relatable. I haven't read many old books or classics, but this book made me feel like I was missing out on a whole other world of books. It didn't read like an 'olde' and 'outdated' book, but rather like a really well written book of today set in the past.
The story, setting, and plot were such a vibe.

Lots of Betsy-Tacy lovers find BWAJ a difficult book. Betsy makes many wrong choices and suffers the consequences. I find it very instructive without being preachy. Two life lessons that it teaches are: 1. Often seemingly simple fun and frivolous pasttimes can have very negative effects in our lives. 2. Living for yourself and the pleasure in a moment, instead of thinking of others and endeavoring to serve and please them, often leaves one with guilt, emptiness, regrets or all three. In BWAJ, Betsy and others in the Crowd start to grow up.

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Absolutely charming, beautifully written Young Adult series based upon the memoirs of author Maud Hart Lovelace. A great comfort read.

I think when you are in high school, you can start to feel like the most important thing in the world is your high school experience and who you want to be right then.

Maud Hart Lovelace tries to show that in Betsy Was a Junior. (Also in the previous book as well) Betsy lives her sophomore and junior years in frustrating follies. Personally, it's why I didn't give book #6 and this one 5 stars. It gets frustrating to read these books as an adult to some degree. But, then, when you see Betsy's growth, you are envious that she learned the lesson so clearly. I remember myself at 16-17, and I must have been ridiculous.

Lessons abound in this one: several of them learn the follies of "societies" that are artificially created. Julia gets a brush with homesickness and vulnerability (but Dad comes to the rescue again in the end). Tib gets a reality check after her drastic change. Tacy is really not much of a character in these high school ones, but she does kind of just get pulled along. Betsy learns time and time again about selfishness. You get to leave the book feeling alright with everyone and everything.

Onward to Betsy and Joe!

Besty's junior year was very fun to read. She becomes the procrastinater that a lot of people in high school are. Besty also start a sorority with Tacy, Tib, and a few of their friends which make usually popular Besty very unpopular. I enjoyed reading this book. it is always fun to live in the early 1900 for a while.

The seventh book in Maud Hart Lovelace's Betsy~Tacy series - in which the youthful trials and tribulations of three Minnesota girls growing up in the early years of the twentieth century are detailed - Betsy Was a Junior (as the name would suggest) follows Betsy, Tacy and Tib through their third year of high school. There are changes aplenty, from Tib's return to Deep Valley and Julia's departure for University, to Betsy's creation of the Okto Delta sorority. Despite her list of plans, and her determination to make this her best school year ever, Betsy bungles it, neglecting her academic work, alienating much of the school, and even missing out on her third chance at the famed Philomathian/Zetamathian Essay Contest.

But although the story reads, in part, like a string of disasters (however entertaining), through all the ups and downs, some things remain constant. The strong ties of love and warm sense of home that characterize the Ray family, whether together or apart; the loyalty and camaraderie of Betsy's circle of friends, and their irrepressible sense of fun; and the essential goodheartedness of Betsy herself, who, though she does not always see the right way forward, is always on the lookout for it; are all here.

It is that, I think - that sense of the underlying goodness of people, even when their actions are less-than-kind, and not-so-admirable - that gives Betsy Was a Junior such emotional power. As someone with an interest in human rights, and an awareness of the ubiquity of their violation, I'm not sure I always believe in that goodness. As someone moreover, with few happy high school memories - yes, dissatisfaction with the high school experience seems to have become such a commomplace, that its expression feels almost redundant, but as with everything, there are degrees. I am, after all, a high school dropout - there is little in Betsy's school experience with which I can identify.

And yet... Lovelace makes me believe in the goodness of humanity. She makes me feel with Betsy, makes me see how easy it is, without ever intending it, to fall into the wrong way. Given who I am, that is an astonishing achievement.

Charming story of adolescence in the 1900s; too bad I wasn't aware of this series when I was a teen.

Omnibus: Betsy Was a Junior / Betsy and Joe

man i loved this book so much and had so much fun and just didnt want it to ever end and then it did end and the ending decided to take a u-turn into existential crisis

I love this book more than I thought I did. Also I cried.

Again Moo and I found ourselves rooting against Betsy the whole time. There’s something we inherently love about an underdog, and Betsy is not that. Particularly abhorrent to us was the whole sorority business and excluding others. We cheered when it blew up in her face. We are getting tired of her learning almost the same lesson at the end of each of her high school years and promptly forgetting it. Highlights include Betsy burning her hair, Joe’s postcard, and the return of Tib. There were just a select few scenes which bring just Betsy, Tacy, and Tib together again, but I inwardly hang onto them as the rest is ridiculous teen stuff. Moo and I are annoyed at how spoiled Betsy and Julia are, and we’ve decided to move along to a different read-aloud.