Betsy's Wedding by Maud Hart Lovelace

Betsy and Joe get married and Betsy adjusts to married life, wanting to be a good wife to Joe.  But with the War looming over the entire world, will Betsy have the ideal life she is wishing for?

Things couldn't be perfect, for herself or Tacy either, unless Tib was happy too.  p.242

Betsy and Joe get married!  Excited.  I loved how quickly they got married and started their life together, though Betsy's role as wife illustrates just how old fashioned this series is.   But Betsy and Joe are a sweet couple and he treats her with a great deal of respect and she does the same for him.  They are so sensible and loving with each other and towards their friends too.  I love that Tacy found someone to complement her and that she had two boys.  And that Tib found someone as well.  This was the perfect ending to the series and I'm sad that it is over, which is a little funny given how old these books are. 

Betsy and the Great World by Maud Hart Lovelace

Betsy is 21 and embarking on a European trip to help her learn to become a better writer and to help her with the heartbreak of her broken relationship with Joe Willard.  Betsy experiences life in a variety of European cities and learns about heartbreak and what she really wants out of life.

The next morning, of course, Betsy made a list.  Lists were always her comfort.  p.150

It was good to see Betsy growing up and learning about the world.  That way she has these experiences before settling down and getting married.  If she hadn't had a couple of romances, then her reunion with Joe might have fallen flat.  Betsy needed more life experience and she got plenty in her travels in Germany, France, Italy and Great Britain.  I enjoyed the descriptions of the places she visited and loved the clothing they wore and the trends in clothing at the time.  It was also interesting to see World War I begin from the viewpoint of an American in Europe and how that occupied the attentions of everyone.  It felt very real (mostly because these books are a fictionalized autobiography of Maud Hart Lovelace) and I was glad that Betsy and Joe are reunited in the end, but it was nice to see Betsy experience life outside of her comfort zone.

Betsy and Joe by Maud Hard Lovelace

Betsy is now a senior and she is ready for a great year.  The elusive Joe Willard is finally  interested in her and everything seems perfect for her senior year.  But Tony Markham has become interested in her as well and proud Joe does not like the competition especially since Betsy is unwillingly to hurt Tony's feelings.  Suddenly everything is not as perfect as it was suppose to be.

 It was getting difficult, though, to divide he time between Joe and Tony.  Balancing their claims, she felt sometimes like an acrobat on a tight rope.  p.142

The last high school book!  It was bittersweet to see Betsy and her friends graduate high school.  I am happy that they had a great year even if it didn't turn out like Betsy wanted.  I was frustrated by her inability to politely tell Tony that she preferred Joe.  I understand that they are good friends and she was trying to keep him from the "bad crowd" but I think she did it at the expense of Joe.  Also she did Joe a disservice by not explaining her reasons for going around with Tony.  He might have understood if she had tried to explain. 

I wasn't too keen on the football part of the story.  But I liked hearing about all the dances and the clothing.  It is interesting to read about how things were done in 1910.  And I wonder if they ever resolve the Carney/Larry subplot.  I guess I will find out in the next books. 

Hogwarts: 7 in a series

Betsy in Spite of Herself & Betsy Was a Junior by Maud Hart Lovelace

Betsy in Spite of Herself

Betsy is now a sophomore and is extremely popular with her Crowd but she is dissatisfied with how boys look at her.  She wants to be different but doesn't know how to change, until she visits Tib in Milwaukee and decides to go back to Deep Valley Dramatic and Mysterious.  Despite attracting the attention of the sophisticated Phil Brandish, Betsy is unhappy with not acting like herself anymore, proving that it's hard to change your nature.

A Betsy-Tacy picnic, she thought as she foraged, was just about the nicest thing in the world.  p.13

So this book covers Betsy's sophomore year and picks up close to where Heaven to Betsy left off.  Betsy decides she needs to be a different version of herself to shake up her life a little and it works for a bit.  Phil Brandish decides he likes her and they "go around" together for a little while.  But Betsy gets tired of acting different from her nature and lets Phil go in order to go back to being happy, smiling, sometimes silly Betsy.  I like this lesson.  And I like how subtly is it done.  Betsy is not made to be Dramatic and Mysterious and I am happy that she embraces her nature at the end of the book.  It is also nice how her relationship with Joe is slowly built up over time and doesn't happen all at once.  That is so much better than how books are sometimes written now.

Betsy Was a Junior

Now that Betsy is a junior in high school, she has decided to mature and sets up a list of resolutions for the year.  But soon she is caught up in the idea of sororities as a result of her sister's Julia's experiences at college and decides to form her own sorority at Deep Valley High, derailing her resolutions.

"I really want him for a friend," Betsy thought. "Not just that I'm sweet on him.  We have so much in common.  We were intended to be friends." p.207

Tib is back! This made me so happy.  Of course, she was in Betsy in Spite of Herself for a little bit, but now is back in Deep Valley for good.  It is nice to see her and her practicality is a great rounder to the Betsy-Tacy team.  It's funny to remember the little girls from the first books and reconcile them with the teenagers of these books. 
Betsy starts a sorority which seems like a good idea at the time, but it means that some girls are excluded and that does not go over well.  The girls who are asked are already in the Crowd so it's not like Betsy means to exclude anyone but that is the nature of sororities.  But then nothing Betsy wanted to do goes right.  She had planned on excelling in school and going with Joe and learning the piano and hanging out with her younger sister more now that Julia has gone to college. But she only really manages to do one of those things.  But Betsy has a good heart and she tries to do the right thing but she can be careless a lot of the time and she doesn't stop to think about what she is doing.  But she matures more in this book.


Hogwarts: 7 in a series

Betsy and Tacy Go Downtown & Heaven to Betsy by Maud Hart Lovelace

Betsy and Tacy Go Downtown (Betsy-Tacy #4)

Betsy, Tacy and Tib are 12 and begin to explore the town they live in further.  They go downtown shopping and Tib rides in a horseless carriage and they attend the theater.

Betsy and Tacy and Tib were twelve years old now, and when they made plans like that they didn't quite believe them.  But they liked to make them anyhow.  p.116

I've said it before.  I like how these stories grow up with the girls.  It's like getting to know them when they are 5 and watching them grow up into young ladies.  They are still children in this story though they are growing up fast.  It's fun to read about the era that they grew up in and the excitement over the horseless carriage and the theater troupes and on on.  And on the dime novels that the hired girl at the Ray's house lends them are considered shocking and too old for 12 year olds to read.  I liked the plot with Mrs. Poppy though I felt sorry for her and her part in the other plot about Mrs. Ray's long lost brother was nice.  I also liked Betsy's trip to the library (of course) and what a wonder that is for her.  It was really sweet.


Heaven to Betsy (Betsy-Tacy #5)
Betsy and Tacy are freshmen in high school now, making new friends and becoming apart of the affectionate Crowd.  Betsy is becoming more interested in boys and in developing her talents as a writer.

"Now," said Mr. Ray.  "I'd better go put the coffee pot on." For that was what the family always did in moments of stress.  p.213

Now that Betsy is a freshmen, her whole world expands once again to accommodate more friends and new loves.  It's exciting to see Betsy and Tacy growing up.  I missed Tib.  I was surprised that she had moved away in the interim and it wasn't really made a big deal of.  I'm glad that Betsy and Tacy are still best friends and that they always have each other, but are willing to let each other make new friends and it doesn't compromise their friendship.

I also love the descriptions of the hair and clothing styles.  It sounds just lovely, the way they dressed and entertained themselves.  Reminds me of Meet Me in St. Louis, one of my favorite musicals.   I love that Betsy and her sister, Julia, are allowed to decide career paths for themselves and their parents support them wholeheartedly. And that the sisters are also allowed to decided their own religion.  It's very progressive for that time. 

Hogwarts: 7 in a series

Betsy and Tacy Go Over the Big Hill by Maud Hard Lovelace

 Betsy, Tacy and Tib are 10 years old and decided that they must act more grown-up.  But they cannot resist a good birthday party and an election for the Queen of Summer.

This is the first Betsy-Tacy book with a plot.  The ones before were more anecdotal, but this one had a more cohesive storyline.  Betsy and her friends all turn 10 and they have a few adventures like "falling in love" with the King of Spain which leads to a feud with their older sisters about an idea for a Queen of Summer.  It was very cute and I liked how they resolved it.  There was some interesting commentary on treating immigrants nicely even if the language is (understandably) dated.  And there is a lesson on being nice to your siblings and getting along.

Hogwarts: 7 in a series

Betsy-Tacy and Tib by Maud Hart Lovelace

Neither Betsy nor Tacy would have pointed that out.  Tib was always pointing such things out.  But Betsy and Tacy liked her just the same.  p.6

Betsy, Tacy and Tib are eight years old and beginning to explore even more of their neighborhood.  This book is more like a series of stories rather than one long plot.  The girls are growing older so the stories have more to do with them "keeping house" for their mothers or forming their own club to get back at their older sisters for having a club of their own.  Betsy is the ringleader and she usually thinks all of the ideas such as intertwining their hair to put in "lockets" just case one of them should die and making everything pudding.  And the other girls go along with her since she has the best ideas.  Tacy is much more a follower and Tib is the more practical one.  I like that this series grows along with the girls and I'm looking forward to the teenage years.

Hogwarts: 7 in a Series

Betsy-Tacy (audio)

Jacket:
Betsy hopes that whoever moves into the house across the street will have a little girl just her age. And the little girl who moves in is just her age. Her name is Tacy. She is very bashful, but she likes to listen to Betsy's stories—wonderful stories that the girls love, and that they keep as their own special secret.
After a while, it's hard to remember a time when Betsy and Tacy weren't best friends.

This was my first Besty-Tacy experience.  I never read them as a child though my sister loved them.  They are very sweet, old-fashioned stories, full of childhood delicies and innocence.  The reader, Sutton Foster, did a great job conveying the wonder that 5 years must feel at the big and small thing in life.  Betsy is a lively little girl with a great imagination while Tacy is a shy child who follows along with Betsy.  But they compliment each other very well and are very loyal to each other.  I really enjoyed this little book and I think I will continue with the series.