Reread of a childhood favorite. Still amusing, and rather timeless.

Read this to Jemima (age 5) which was just so fun. Love these books so much

This is such a fun cute series.

I happened to see a Betsy book on a bookshelf on someone's blog and I knew that Betsy and I had to have it. Turns out it's a whole series from the 1940s. Betsy's grandma bought her 3 of them for her birthday. This is the first one we read.

I am delighted to report that Betsy and I are huge fans of Betsy. Each chapter is a beautiful little story with fun little twists and morals. My Betsy is captivated by the adventures of these children from more than seventy years ago.

I have been looking for these books everywhere and I am so glad to have finally found them! While my friends in elementary school were always checking out the more "popular" books in the library, I found myself coming back to this series again and again. I'm pretty sure I read every book in the series at least twice! I'm a little perturbed to discover that they've been re-released with a more modern cover, because I actually prefer the vintage look. Brings back so many memories and should I stumble across these somewhere, I may just have to read them again!

3.5 STARS This second book in the Betsy series was mostly decent, though I found it somewhat lacking the charm and depth of the first book. However, the chapter "Exactly What Betsy Wanted" ... well I really needed to view this with a child's innocent eyes as I could see a child truly feeling and acting this way and I don't actually think any harm was meant by it BUT... In this chapter, Betsy tells her mother she wants another baby next year (she has a one year old sister). "I know what kind I want. Could we get one ready-made? I forget what you call babies that are ready made?" "You mean 'adopt' a baby," said mother. Yes, this is what Betsy means. "I want a lot of babies. And I like all different colors." Later, Betsy is out walking by her house and met "a little black girl" who was crying. She tries a few houses but no luck finding the parents. "Don't worry, my mother and father will 'dopt you. It's nice at our house and I'll play with you." Betsy cries when mother wants to phone the police to find the child's parents. "But, I want to keep her. She's exactly what I want." Betsy says. Well, turns out the little girl is the child of the new housekeeper at the neighbor's house and there's a happy reunion. In later books, Betsy and her little sister play with the little girl (Lillybell) so I at least appreciate very much that Betsy's (white) family doesn't prohibit her from being friends with an African-American girl so I think it was actually fairly progressive for the time (first published in 1943). Just the "she's exactly what I wanted and I want to keep her" made me so uncomfortable as did the very casual talk of what adoption means.

I liked Back to School with Betsy. They got a chicken in the end chapter and it turned out to be a rooster. They went on a sleigh ride and Betsy's father. Betsy's father had a dream once where he was in a sleigh and he was with Santa Claus and they went to an old inn and there were two dogs talking to each other. There was a fire. The dog said I'm a hotdog!

When I was little, this was my favorite book ever. I found it in the library at Christ the King school in first grade and as I got older I would secretly hide it in my book pile at the library to only read it one more time. The best part of this book is that it was written so long ago but yet displays interracial adoption. When I look back at it and think of what year it was when this book was actually written, its amazing to see that someone encompassed this so early on in a decade where something of the sort wouldn't have been acceptable? If I found this book on the shelf in the library today I just might have had to sneak it into my adult pile for one more read ;-)

I loved reading the Betsy series as a kid and remember checking them out of my school library over and over again. I just found this through my local library to read with my 8 year old daughter. They are still just as fun as I remember and I enjoyed hanging out with Betsy snd the gang again.

This is a cute little book series and those kids who enjoy Beverly Cleary books will enjoy these as well. They were however published in 1943 so traditional gender roles are presented and there are a few problem ways in which people are described. In this particular book, it is that Betsy wants her next sibling to be a 'little black baby.'

In which I learn not to reread some childhood favorites.

I remembered liking this book. I had a fond feeling in my heart when I flipped through the illustrations. After rereading, I'm not sure what I liked. Maybe it's just dated (I did laugh out loud when little Betsy begged her mother to adopt her "a little colored baby"), or maybe kids' books now are so much more complex and realistic. Either way, I was disappointed that Betsy and her friends didn't buy their teacher a monkey as a wedding present, and disappointed in the book.

Not quite as bad as Betsy and Billy but the same awkwardnesses etc. For example, as Kathryn says, the Lillybell chapter is something that would be difficult to share with kids nowadays.

And again Betsy gets her dreams to come true. The new neighbor, Mr. Jackson, not only is going to fix up the hours and garden swiftly, but he's marrying Miss Grey, and so it's ok that she's not going to teach anymore, because she's going to be right over the wall from Betsy.

Well, but is it ok with Miss Grey? Honestly, if that woman had enough energy and love for all those little schoolchildren, I would think she'd want to work at least until she started to 'show'... what if she doesn't get pregnant right away? And why does she need a live-in housekeeper?

Hm. I don't recommend this one, either. I'm going to keep reading, but I'm glad that I didn't automatically share these with children after my pleasure with Busy Summer.