The fifth book covers Betsy's freshman year. In great detail. The book has doubled in length, at least, from the first four.

There are still funny, insightful moments that I enjoy. But I just don't need to read about a year of social engagements. Betsy turns out to be so popular. It's just not all that interesting to me. Is it because I literally never went to a high school party? Maybe.

Also, it's a tad hilarious that her "first kiss" was on the cheek under mistletoe. And Tony smoking when in the company of females! Scandalous!

Ok, this is my favorite in the series so far! HEAVEN TO BETSY is such a gem. This is the 5th book in the Betsy Tacy series where the girls enter High School, which is "Heaven" to Betsy. We see Betsy and her "crowd" age and mature as the story progresses. She experiences a lot of change in this installment as well as makes new friends and discovers crushes and love. There are parties and endless reasons for friends to visit the Ray household; the family has a new live-in housekeeper/cook named Anna and the entire story has such a wholesome, heartwarming feel - almost like a movie with Judy Garland with music sung too. Loved it.

One of the things I love so much about this series is how real Betsy feels at each stage. I know the stories (and Betsy herself) is based largely on the life of Maud Hart Lovelace, but it's still a kind of magic how she manages to capture the exactness of being 14.
Betsy starts her freshman year of high school just KNOWING amazing things are going to happen, and then, of course they do. We meet Joe Willard for the first time, and, with just a couple of brushstrokes, know he's going to be important in Betsy's life.
And Tony. Oh, Tony. And Irma. And Tacy, and all Betsy's crowd. Her family and school and the essay contest.
I love how deeply Betsy feels, and how seriously Lovelace takes her feelings.

I’ve been afraid to read/re-read this, and I procrastinated for a long time. I loved the first four books so much. I have a memory of reading this and Betsy in Spite of Herself when I was young (the only two in this series I knew about and read) and I never re-read them or searched out other companion books so I’m thinking I only liked them at best, and at worst thought they were just okay, and didn’t really like or love them. I didn’t remember this as I was reading so I’m treating reading this as a brand new experience.

Wow. I surprised myself by giving this book 5 stars. Through most of the book it was a 4 or even a 3 star book for me. It took a while to grow on me, but by the end I loved it.

What, in the earlier 4 books were charming slice of life episodes in the lives of 5-12 year old friends, the happenings here seemed more pedestrian when the events were about 14-17 year old high school students who care at least as much about boys as about girlfriends, and in Betsy’s case, her storytelling/writing. The “crowd” of high school freshman friends didn’t move me the way the friendship of Betsy and Tacy did, and I missed not having Tacy around as much. At the beginning of the book I liked Tacy better than Betsy. I preferred pre-boy crazy/boys crazy about her Betsy.

However, the book is so well written and the story ended up being done so well, although certainly the reader could see what was coming, but that was fine, even fun. So many moments were so perfectly captured and the descriptions of everything and everyone were beautifully created.

I enjoyed the warm family home where friends enjoy gathering. I appreciated that the father said he didn’t think a child’s religion should necessarily be decided just because of the religion of the parents, but should be a personal choice. There are so many more examples of things I liked about this story.

It’s true that I was disturbed about the change in Betsy (although by the end of the book I was fine with what had transpired) but given that this novel is based on Maud Hart Lovelace’s life, I guess this was part of her development, and I do know she became a writer, a very good writer.

Also, the food in these books always sounds incredibly delectable.

I did deliberately avert my eyes from this horrible cover art! The art inside is lovely.

Super, fun, very good, great, lovely, awesome, excellent, marvelous!

The Betsy-Tacy series was one of my 'comfort read' mainstays when I was growing up, but it has been many years since I had last read the older high school books. Over the next six weeks, I plan on rereading the last six books of the series: starting with this chronicle of Betsy's freshman year in high school and concluding with Betsy's Wedding.

Let me just say this: I've read literally hundreds of YA books (both contemporary and classic) in the last decade. A small percentage of them feature happy families and loving, loyalty friendships; the latter probably being slightly more common than the former. Part of the appeal of Lovelace's beloved books, based so closely on her own life, is that they give the reader a cosy, insider's glimpse into the world of turn-of-the-century small town Minnesota. (The fictional town of Deep Valley is based on Mankato, Lovelace's hometown.). But probably the most wholesome aspect of this series is that Betsy is a well-adjusted, (mostly) happy girl in a happy family. Dysfunctional families are a dime a dozen in realistic YA, but it is rare to find families who truly love and enjoy each other.

The book opens with a not altogether pleasant surprise for Betsy: her family is moving away from Hill Street on the edge of town - and just across the street from Tacy's house - to a bigger, newer house in High Street. There is a lot of change in this book: the new house, starting high school, boy craziness, Betsy's first real crush, religious conversion and friends coming and going. It's also the first time that her best friend Tacy is not absolutely at the center of her world. Although Betsy struggle with small vanities and some laziness, she mostly lives a charmed life - and is entirely happy within it. She is a sentimentalist who deeply loves her life and doesn't really yearn for the "Great Wide World" like her older sister Julia does. But she also dreams of becoming a writer - and by the end of this novel she has fresh resolve for shaping her future towards that goal.

I liked this book about Betsy's freshman year in high school. She is a bit boy-crazy, but it is old-fashioned-innocent boy-craziness. The biggest problem for me is the use of a ouiji board. At that time, it was considered an innocent parlor game, but I think much of the time people aren't aware that something popular and seemingly "innocent" actually can be quite dangerous. However, I think this is a good way to introduce this topic to your girl and discuss choices we make. Betsy has a great relationship with her family and her friends. Betsy learned a hard lesson that year, which all of us that love Maud Hart Lovelace can be thankful for. I plan to have my daughter wait until she is 12 to read this book due to the boy interest.

ahhh such a cozy comforting silly relatable peaceful book <3 i’ve been reading this book series over and over since i was seven or eight and it’s still my favorite ever, i wish i lived in deep valley ;)

My first Maud Hart Lovelace, I believe. There's a lot I expected, the friendships, the crushes, but there was some I did not expect, particularly Betsy and Julia decided to become apart of a different denomination. I actually quite liked that. I think it's a very relatable thing to have your own path in your faith. I loved the emphasis Mr. Ray puts on the most important part of a relationship with Christ being your heart. I also liked that he spoke about the responsibilities as a member of the church.

I like that Betsy and Julia have dreams of careers. I like Joe Willard and I want to read more about him! I would say my favorite character is probably Tacy. She's so down to earth and not boy crazy; I adore her and Betsy's devoted friendship. I definitely want to read books with Tacy as the center.

The things I didn't like: how obsessed Carney and Bonnie were about boys, Tony's unloyalty, Betsy trying to fit in to the point that she put her biggest priority to the side(that made me cringe the entire time). Another thing that kind of rubbed me the wrong way at times: I felt that the only reason so many boys gravitated to Betsy, was because of her awesome family. I felt a little bad for Betsy,because I think it gave her this false security. I'm sure they liked Betsy as a friend,but I think they liked her family more(if that makes any sense).As the book went on, I think Betsy kind of realized that she was just friends with the three boys. I adored Betsy's family and, honestly, I would have been one of the people flocking to Betsy's house because of how welcoming it was. I would be eatting all of Anna's cooking. I guess all the cons were apart of Betsy's character growth. So, cons turned pros.

i got my first Betsy-Tacy-Tib book from my next door neighbor. i was in the fourth grade. she only had sons.

i've read almost all of the books in the series but i really only care about the one's that cover betsy's high school years.

these books are amazing because they were written in the 30s and 40s about a girl in the 1910s, yet the family was pretty progressive. one of their daughter's went through a religious conversion, one of their daughter's went off to europe to sing opera and wear rouge, and they encouraged betsy to become a writer.

i also liked that they explored some emotional commonalities of young woman in their teens. now don't get me wrong, these books are light reading: the kind of concerns are mostly limited to "who am i?... especially since my best friend is 'the sweet one.'" "how do others see me?... especially that cute brainiac guy who doesn't talk to girls." "am i successfully meeting my own goals? ...like being a world famous writer."

one of the things that amazed me was that betsy's family was very progressive: i also love all the stuff about pompadours and shirtwaists. plus, the action is set a small city in the midwest.

I know there's much more to say than this, but this was my first foray into the older Betsy books -- I read Betsy-Tacy when I was little, but not with the deep affection that many others did -- and my overwhelming impulse was to live-blog it. I don't think I loved it as much as I would have if I'd read it over and over when I was younger, as I did with Gene Stratton Porter's books, but I kept cracking up and wishing I had somebody next to me on the train to read parts out loud to.

Fall 2024:
Delightful.

5-20-2012
Still, and always, one of my favorites of the series. Maud gives us a compelling story here and now, while also setting us up for the rest of Betsy's high school years.

The dedication is to Maud's parents and the love within the Ray family–ever present throughout the series–really shines through with this one.

Of all the boys, Cab is the most like Mr. Ray.

5-17-08:
"There's no one I can be so silly with as I can with you," said Tacy.
For the next VSC, we're comparing it with Jacob Have I Loved. I'm hoping for a revival of the great Bonnie Andrews debate. (I fall under the booo...hiss category.)