This entry felt a little more saccharine and contrived than the previous three (the long-lost uncle; the girls getting to be in a professional play) and the main characters’ obsession over a theatrical production of Uncle Tom’s Cabin sure didn’t age well. But Betsy and Tacy Go Downtown has the coziness that makes the series work, with the Christmastime segments being real highlights this time around. I also really enjoyed meeting Mrs. Poppy. And A+ for a group of twelve-year-olds stalwartly choosing to believe in Santa Claus.

Mrs. Poppy is so cute!

I’d almost forgotten what a big role this book played in the formation of my personal mythology. While reading this book, one is surprised that it is set in the early 1900s. Parts of it are extremely dated of course (like the unfortunate mention of actors in black face for a performance of Uncle Tom’s Cabin) but the core message is definitely relevant today.

Betsy’s mother and father are supportive of her dream to be a writer (and her sister Julia’s dream to become a performer of some kind). It warmed my heart to read the part where Betsy’s uncle’s trunk becomes her writing desk and her father encourages her to visit the new library once a week after it opens. This book reminds me so much of my own childhood—of playing outside with neighborhood children, of feeling safe and secure and loved. It also makes me sad, because the world is so very different now, and my son is missing out on a lot of the things which made my own childhood magical, the same sorts of things that Betsy experienced as a kid growing up in a wholesome and safe environment.

This book is a treasure. It might be my favorite in the entire series, at least of the ones from before Betsy’s high school days. I just relate to Betsy so much. I too kept a secret box of my stories when I was her age. The things Betsy loves, I also love.

I didn’t want this book to end. I really wanted to stay enveloped in the cozy enchantment of Betsy’s world forever.

This ode to books and love letter to libraries opens with a crisis. Betsy has read all of the books in her house. What is an aspiring writer to do? She borrows some scandalous dime novels and Tacy follows Betsy’s example, with disastrous results (a wink and a smile to fellow fans of Victorian sensation novels):

“You remember,” she said, “Rena loaned me Lady Audley's Secret. Well, Papa found it.” Tacy began to sob. “Papa said he was amazed and astounded. He said he thought he had brought us up to appreciate good literature. He said there was a set of Dickens in the house, and Shakespeare, and Father Finn, and how did a child of his happen to be reading trash?”

“Trash!” cried Betsy. “I’m trying to write books just like it.”

The very first library in town finally opens and saves Betsy’s literary life.

She tried to act as though it were nothing to go to the library alone. But her happiness betrayed her. Her smile could not be restrained, and it spread from her tightly pressed mouth, to her round cheeks, almost to the hair ribbons tied in perky bows over her ears…. She seated herself in the chair nearest the fire, piled the books beside her and opened Tanglewood Tales. But she did not start to read at once. Before she began she smiled at the fire, she smiled at her books, she smiled broadly all around the room. Betsy…opened her book and forgot the world again.

The literary references throughout are charming. There’s even a reference to “a new song called The Rosary”, of The Rosary fame. Betsy’s passion for books of all sorts makes her a kindred spirit indeed.

My only disappointment in this book is the unexplained absence of their friend Naifi and the lovely Syrian community, all of whom we met in the previous book. Such a lovely series!

Well, I never figured I'd read all of the first four Betsy-Tacy books, but I did. I've got to do a better job of choosing "adult"-style books and not keep coming up with crap, which is, of course, why I kept reverting to yet another dose of Betsy-Tacy. Perhaps it's all for the best. I rather liked my delving into Betsy-Tacy, although I might now suffer from a terminal case of heart warmedness.

So, Betsy, Tacy, and Tib are now 12 and are grown up enough to do things like go downtown on their own. After some difficulties, they make friends with another girl, Winona Root, who has tickets to a theater production of Uncle Tom's Cabin. They're all smitten. And now, for all practical purposes, the threesome becomes a foursome.

The first horseless carriage comes to town. Betsy has big plans to be a writer, but her mother thinks she needs a better class of literature to read than the paper backs she gets from the housemaid. So, she sends Betsy to the newly opened library every other week. It seems that some things never change. The librarian is, of course, awesome, and opens up a whole new world to Betsy.

[Interestingly, the librarian in A Tree Grows in Brooklyn was not so awesome (the first one I've ever known not to be so). However, the presence of the library in her neighborhood opened up a whole new world to Francie Nolan. God bless public libraries.

I find it bizarre that so-called "conservatives" are now calling for defunding public libraries. I gather rich people aren't able to read, or something. Or perhaps all that money just turns people into assholes...but I digress. Sorry].

Betsy makes friends of a lonely rich woman who lives in a hotel, and they plan a Christmas party to which all their friends will be invited. Later, she gets Betsy & Co. involved as extras with a traveling theater company, including Betsy's long lost Uncle Keith. And so forth. It's rather heart warming and also tells of life, albeit idealized, from a different time, e.g. 100+ years ago, shortly before my mother was a little girl.

I dunno, I never really expected to read any Betsy-Tacy, and now I've read four of them and liked them all. I find it weird that I keep reading how it is a children's classic, but I've yet to find anyone who has actually read any of the books growing up, and I have a lot of book-worm peers, and a couple of relatives who are librarians [ok, my librarian sister-in-law, whose mother was once president of the American Library Association, admits to having read them].

Also interesting to me is that the books describe kids' lives and activities at the turn of the 20th century. Other than some anachronisms, like horse-drawn carriages, the lives of the kids weren't much different from the lives of people like me in the 1950s. But, it's all different today. I'm not sure that's a good thing.

Loved the chapter on Betsy's first solo expedition downtown to the new library!

I love reading these and telling Fiona all about it. While the writing itself is a little too old for her, I love how much she enjoys the story elements and the surprises along the way. Watching her squeal in anticipation for something exciting or get a huge smile on her face when something happy occurs. It’s the best.

The best yet. They just keep getting better.

Happy Birthday to Maud, Happy Birthday to Me.

So stinking heartwarming! You kind of see ahead, and I remember that from before. My only problem is that I'm reading this for a readathon, and I need to move on to the next prompt, but how can I leave Betsy and Tacy and Tib?

I needed to visit downtown Deep Valley last night and take that first horseless carriage ride with the lovable Poppys and Tib. Also, I just crack up when the trio try to hypnotize Winona to try to get her to take them to see Uncle Tom's Cabin. Then to find out that she wanted to take them all along...so sweet. I love when they go to the oprea house and they are full of all that excitement of uninhibited childhood.

This is my favorite in the series. I love Betsy's first trip to the new library where she sits in front of the cozy fire. I love the wisdom from her parents about how she should read classic books to become a good writer. I love all the snow scenes and the bobsled party. Love Mrs. Poppy. I like the age of the girls in this one; they are 12 so though they play with dolls, they only do so when sick. They are still little girls but they are growing up. I love their friendships and how they encourage each other....sending Betsy's story off to Lady's Home Journal.

Ohh and I do love the Christmas in this one and how the entire Ray family is excited for little Margaret to get her little doll that says "mama" if it's squeezed.

Sigh....I wish I could jump into this book and be their friend.

There’s so much to love about this story - horseless carriages, plays, the Carnegie library, Uncle Keith’s trunk, Christmas shopping, and a very grown-up party at a fancy hotel. This is a great transition between the little kid Betsy-Tacy books and the high school stories.