Sometime last fall, I suddenly heard all this hype around these old children's books called Betsy-Tacy—a series that follows a couple of friends from childhood to adulthood. And I thought, "...why have I not heard of these before????" I've been such a reader my whole life that few children's series have passed my radar undetected...and I'm still a sucker for children's books. I usually read Harriet the Spy once a year, and all things Anne of Green Gables hold a special place in my heart. When I joined a local book club and one of the members who shares my love of classic juvenile fiction raved about Betsy-Tacy, I knew it was time to dive right in.
In the past couple of weeks, I've quickly devoured the first four books in Maud Hart Lovelace's series: Betsy-Tacy, Betsy-Tacy and Tib, Betsy and Tacy Go Over the Big Hill, and Betsy and Tacy Go Downtown. [One book is the perfect length for the plane ride to Nashville.] As I expected, they're pretty addicting.
Betsy-Tacy introduces us to Betsy Ray and Tacy Kelly when they're five years old, in the early twentieth century. Tacy moves in across the street from Betsy in a small Minnesota town, and the two become fast friends. Betsy-Tacy and Tib throws another player into the mix: Tib Muller—the new girl that moved into the beautiful brown house down the street at the end of Betsy-Tacy. The addition of Tib makes the duo a trio. Betsy and Tacy Go Over the Big Hill involves magical tenth birthdays and the discovery of a local immigrant population and befriending of a young Syrian girl. Betsy and Tacy Go Downtown takes the girls—so grown-up at twelve years old!—downtown to the public library and into the production of a traveling theater show.
The unofficial History Book of Friendship has always told us that "three's a crowd," but that's no fun for children's books; so Betsy, Tacy, and Tib get along perfectly well. They each have very distinct personalities—Betsy is, more often than not, the gang leader, a bit of a firecracker, but a bookworm at heart with a vivid and poetic imagination; Tacy is the shy one of the group who usually goes along with whatever Betsy says; and Tib is almost the antithesis of the other two—realistic, outspoken, and never afraid to take center stage. Together, these three have all kinds of adventures and discoveries as they learn how to grow up with each passing year.
Some fun facts about Betsy-Tacy:
- The series is based on stories from Lovelace's own childhood. She was inspired to put them on paper since they'd been repeated so much as bedtime stories to her daughter.
- The characters are based on real people in the author's life—her family and her two best friends.
- Lots of these places and events really existed/happened, too. Lovelace was big on historical accuracy. The setting is pretty accurate, even down to there being an immigrant community in her small Minnesota town.
I can't help but love simple stories like this series. It's a world so foreign to us now—without technology. Betsy, Tacy, and Tib are entranced by a telephone and the first motor vehicle they see...can you imagine seeing those things for the first time? Inventions were a new, exciting possibility. And now the only new technological advancements seem to be replacing a 3G network with a 4G one...and I have no idea what that even means. I sound like an old geezer using the phrase "It was a simpler time," but...it was. And sometimes that is really refreshing—to unplug, power off, and focus on what's living and breathing right in front of you. I have a really hard time imagining what office work was like 20 years ago before everything was run by a computer. And now, how crippled are we when the internet is down in our offices? I have nostalgia for the days I never even lived, when we didn't want or need information instantaneously and face-to-face interactions were the most frequent.
Other things:
- I like how the reading level increases as the characters age. The first three read almost like easy readers from the 1950s, and the fourth immediately felt much more advanced.
- Does anyone else think Tib is getting jipped with these book titles? It's always "Betsy and Tacy _______." Why no Tib??
- I really want to get my hands on the recent re-release versions from Harper Perennial. LOVE the cover art style, good collection to own.
- The NYPL doesn't even have the next in the series, Heaven to Betsy, in circulation! Utter failure, NYPL. Now I have to hunt it down elsewhere!
So until then...are there any series that hold a special place in your heart?
PS, has anyone seen the Road to Avonlea series? Is it worth my time committing to on Netflix?
