The fiction book B is for Betsy is the first series and chapter book that i ever read. I was in the 5th grade. I loved and read all the Carolyn Haywood books when i was a child.
This book is a little girl named Betsy that had many adventures including going to school for the first time, have a sibling, and have a dog.
She loves school and is so good and innocent that you just can't wait to turn the pages.
I hope that every mother encourages their children to read this line of books.

Just as good as it was 25 years ago.

Is a good book for kids

had read this as a child, and happen to come across a copy when working in school library. Figured kids must still enjoy since at the library. Was doing volunteer work at the school. Reading time for 2nd grade class used the week of 12/10-14. Read a section each day. The children really enjoyed it, so a book that has been around for years. But still interest kids. Would recommend to others.

Meet the first childhood chapter book that I remember having read on my own. "B" Is for Betsy mattered immensely to me. On reflection, it matters still.

Talented Carolyn Haywood was one of those authors for children who reached me, reached directly into my child's mind and curiosity and emotions and view of the world. In hindsight, she was a compassionate author who gently introduced children like me to a world that was safe and friendly.

Very likely I read every book of this series. Whatever of Carolyn's I did read, I loved it, and loved entering that word my way... through my eyes and my page-turning fingers.

Goodreaders, can you remember your five-year-old fingers? Clever fingers they were, with their so-soft skin. Mine, at least, were fidgety, eager, tender little girl fingers. And whatever I touched with those fingers, I could know. Because seeing has never convinced me, deep down. Besides, by the time I was old enough to read, I knew it would have been babyish to keep on making contact with physical life by sticking bits of it into my mouth!

Through Betsy books, my world as a reader opened up. I remember opening up that Betsy world on my own, whenever I wished, and she was always there waiting for me, my first book friend.

Thanks so much for bringing me Betsy books, Carolyn Haywood!

Incidental Note about My Wacky Version of Shelving

Fellow Goodreaders, I put some thought and care into how I name my shelves here. (As a writer, I'm a namer: ridiculously serious, really, about naming.)

CHILDREN'S BOOK, or some such category doesn't seem accurate enough. Too tight. Too broad. Very likely, Goldilocks wouldn't approve; for sure, such a shelving choice doesn't sit well with me.

Instead I've chosen a very particular trio for this book review, and others of this genre that I rate-and-review on Goodreads:

*FANTASY, because children move in and out of what adults (especially professional hypnotists) call "hypnosis." Any young-at-heart former child, and many of us parents, know that children experience life in a way that is subtly different from how we settle in, once having adjusted reasonably well to being human.

(If you're curious to learn more about my model for this process of settling in, read some of the earlier chapters of "The New Strong." Enough said here.)

*FICTION, due to technically being a made-up story, rather than ugh! something on TikTok: When fiction has been properly published as a book you can read and maybe chew on, just a bit? Of course, fiction counts as a legitimate category. But there's more....

*NONFICTION, because when a reasonably sane adult publishes a book that can be read to children, or read by children, or read by any human being really... That book is telling readers about what it means to live in this world, who can live here, how cause-and-effect work, and more.

Put all three of these jobs together, FANTASY, FICTION, and NONFICTION, yes! Put all that together, Goodreaders, and what then? You've found my Goodreads shelf of child-sized wonder.

Paradoxically, this shelf is larger than any adult consciousness bookshelf, just as a child's aura tends to be bigger-and-bolder than that of a mere adult. As children, our chosen books are like a Tardis, powering each of us to explore as we wish, explore as if we're all Time Lords.

Read to Sarah Grace. Very sweet story, and she loved it so much she cried when we finished it. Good thing there are sequels!

Nostalgia read for me. I saw this was available from my library and I had to revisit it. This was the very first chapter book I read and it will always have a special place in my heart. It is truly historical fiction now and so cozy. I will have to check out the other books in the series.

This has always been my favorite Betsy book! I read it many times in my childhood and shared it with my daughter years later! She loved it, too!

I enjoyed reading "B" is for Betsy by Carolyn Haywood. It's one I've read before, though I don't remember reading the sequels, or all the sequels in this children's series. (Other books include Betsy and Billy, Back to School With Betsy, and Betsy and the Boys). In the first book, readers meet a young girl, Betsy, who is nervous about starting school. Though her anxiety is relieved after a successful day or two at school. The focus throughout the book is on Betsy's life at school and home. Each chapter has an "adventure" of sorts. Some of the adventures are more of an actual adventure. (For example, there is a chapter where Betsy finds and rescues a neighborhood dog from a pit she had fallen into. It may prove more 'exciting' than the chapter on the class' two pet tadpoles.) The book celebrates childhood, family life, friendship, and community.

It was originally published in 1939. In one of the chapters "How Wiggle and Waggle Grew," the class learns about Indians and makes an Indian village.

They made little wigwams of twigs covered with brown paper. They brought little dolls which they colored with reddish-brown paint. Some they dressed as squaws. Miss Grey had told them that the Indian women were called squaws. Some they dressed as Indian Braves. The Braves were the men who did the hunting and fighting while the squaws stayed home and did the work. Ellen brought a tiny doll which Miss Grey fastened on the back of one of the squaws. It was the squaw's papoose, which is the Indian name for baby. Betsy thought the Indian village was beautiful. (50-1)

So it's definitely a product of its time. For better and for worse. Betsy's world is quite different than ours. In Betsy's world, it's safe to walk everywhere, play anywhere, and every adult is a friend.

I wouldn't say it's a must-read children's classic, but, it is an enjoyable enough read for those looking for an old-fashioned read.

Shame about the two stars, but really, the writing is so choppy it spoiled the book for me. Haywood seldom troubles to finish a scene, let alone provide a well-rounded vignette of first-grade life! One minute a boy has been sent to the naughty seat--turn the page and it's another day, another episode. This happens several times, often cutting a character off in mid-conversation.

How times have changed--Betsy's first grade sounds more like kindergarten today. I have often read of "sand tables" in older school stories...can you imagine having a table full of loose sand just at kid height in today's schools? They'd have to have a special detail just to sweep up after the first handful got thrown!

On the plus side, it's a gentle nighttime read of a quieter time gone by. I did like that the authoress includes a better finished story about Betsy being wilful and rebellious, which stops the story being sugary.

The "Betsy" books were among my favorites when I was young. My mom introduced me to them in elementary school and I would love to do the same for my Jillian. They are out of print, so I seek them out at used book sales and stores. I recently found my first 2!!

Eh. It's got all the olde time throwback stuff -- written in 1939 with a nice shiny new cover -- but it's so far back as to be out-of-touch for today's youth. I liked it, but I cannot imagine a child today who would -- and I know plenty of kids who like the Little House series. It's just so sanitized and stereotyped -- rose-colored. And there is an organ grinder. Really?!