Rating: 
Summary: A Excellent Book,
Review: "Heaven To Betsy", is the best book in the Betsy-Tacy series that I've read so far. It makes you wish that you could go to Deep Valley High yourself! I CAN'T WAIT to read the other Betsy-Tacy books as Betsy grows up.
Rating:
Summary: A joy and delight
Review: Heaven to Betsy is one of the most characteristic of this loved series. If you haven't read any of the others, you'd still enjoy it! Betsy and Tacy enter the wider world of the Deep Valley High School, the "Crowd," sings around Julia's piano, fudge, Heinz's . . . full of gentle humor, vivid characterization, and affection. A delight for girls and grownups.
Rating:
Summary: A perfect girl's story and a great family read aloud!
Review: I first read this book in 1956. And I have re-read it many times since. It is the story of a freshman in High School in 1906-1907. Betsy and her friend Tacy find a Crowd and take part in many activities. Betsy has disapointments in love and in her own performance in the High School Essay Contest. She has triumphs also. But most of all, she learns how important her writing is to her. Betsy's family, The Rays, are one of the most wonderful families of fiction. Each member of the family is very real to readers. The hired girl Anna, is part of the Ray families and we love her as well. Mr. and Mrs. Ray are respected for their wisdom in raising their daughters. Betsy's older sister, Julia, is a "siren" but has her sights set firmly on singing grand opera. Little sister Margaret loves animals and delights in her older sisters' activities. Mrs. Ray and the brass bowl is one of my all time favorite chapters. It shows what a sense of humor the family had and how important they all were to each other. The Deep Valley High School seems like my own high school. The situations described are not unlike even schools of the '90's. Maud Hart Lovelace was such a descriptive writer that the books do not really seem "historic" the reader is aware that we are reading about the early part of the 20th Century-- but we also feel like we are there too! I highly recommend this book for families and girls alike. It is a wonderful book. Nora Lee Liederbach
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful story!
Review: I only discovered these books about 5 years ago through Victoria Magazine. I had never heard of them so went and checked out from the library and just fell in love with them! There is even a Betsy-Tacy Society that fans of Maud Hart Lovelace can join and share with each other. My review is for all of the books, each one was truly enjoyable for the young and not so young. I highly recommend purchasing a set and donating to your local elementary and junior high schools.
Rating:
Summary: It's actually painful for me to return them to the library!
Review: I've been part of Betsy and Tacy's world since I was about six years old and just discovering Deep Valley. I've read all the books several times since then, and when it comes time to take them back to my tiny local library, I actually feel like I'm losing a friend! Betsy, Tacy, Tib, Carney, Bonnie, Tony, Cab, Winona, and the rest of the Crowd are all part of my life, it seems. . .and don't even start me on Joe! I've acquired the first four books in the series, and I'm now on a hunt for older versions of the high school books. I simply can't let go of the Deep Valley Crowd! (Oh, and it may be just me, but was anyone else unbearably sad when the Ray family moved to Minneapolis?)
Rating:
Summary: It's actually painful for me to return them to the library!
Review: I've been part of Betsy and Tacy's world since I was about six years old and just discovering Deep Valley. I've read all the books several times since then, and when it comes time to take them back to my tiny local library, I actually feel like I'm losing a friend! Betsy, Tacy, Tib, Carney, Bonnie, Tony, Cab, Winona, and the rest of the Crowd are all part of my life, it seems. . .and don't even start me on Joe! I've acquired the first four books in the series, and I'm now on a hunt for older versions of the high school books. I simply can't let go of the Deep Valley Crowd! (Oh, and it may be just me, but was anyone else unbearably sad when the Ray family moved to Minneapolis?)
Rating:
Summary: The Betsy-Tacy books are treasures!
Review: My name is Betsy and I was born in a little town in Minnesota, not unlike Deep Valley. I was named after Betsy Ray. My mother read the books when she was a little girl and later shared them with me. There was no treat like being taken to the library after school to choose another Betsy book! My best friend growing up, was Tiffy, and we too were known as Betsy-Tiffy. Our names seemed as unseperable as we were! We were quite old-fashioned little girls and had almost carbon-copies of the adventures Tacy and Betsy had. I still adore these books and can't believe what a good choice my mother made in giving her authoress daughter such a splendid name. I write children's stories and must confess having a hard time keeping Betsy and Tacy's characters out of them! These books helped to keep me a child for a good long time. I think I grew up very wholesomely and feel privileged to have had my childhood, so like Betsy's!
Rating:
Summary: The Betsy-Tacy Series
Review: The Betsy-Tacy book series is fantasic, to say the least. When I was little, my mother read them aloud to my brothers and I. That's not to say they're only for children. Anyone will love these timeless classics. They feature Betsy Warrington Ray, a young aspiring writer, who's character is actually based closely upon author Maud Hart Lovelace's Life. In the first book, 'Betsy-Tacy', Betsy has her 5th birthday party and invites her new neighbor, 5-year-old Tacy Kelly. Soon to make their twosome a threesome, Tib Muller moves to the neighborhood from Milwaukee. They become great friends and the books take the girls through high school and beyond. The books in the Betsy-Tacy series are: Betsy-Tacy, Betsy, Tacy and Tib, Betsy and Tacy Go Over the Big Hill, Betsy and Tacy Go Downtown, Heaven to Betsy, Betsy in Spite of Herself, Betsy was a Junior, Betsy and Joe, Betsy and the Great World, and Betsy's Wedding. I recommend these books highly; everybody should read them.
Rating:
Summary: The Betsy-Tacy Series
Review: The Betsy-Tacy book series is fantasic, to say the least. When I was little, my mother read them aloud to my brothers and I. That's not to say they're only for children. Anyone will love these timeless classics. They feature Betsy Warrington Ray, a young aspiring writer, who's character is actually based closely upon author Maud Hart Lovelace's Life. In the first book, 'Betsy-Tacy', Betsy has her 5th birthday party and invites her new neighbor, 5-year-old Tacy Kelly. Soon to make their twosome a threesome, Tib Muller moves to the neighborhood from Milwaukee. They become great friends and the books take the girls through high school and beyond. The books in the Betsy-Tacy series are: Betsy-Tacy, Betsy, Tacy and Tib, Betsy and Tacy Go Over the Big Hill, Betsy and Tacy Go Downtown, Heaven to Betsy, Betsy in Spite of Herself, Betsy was a Junior, Betsy and Joe, Betsy and the Great World, and Betsy's Wedding. I recommend these books highly; everybody should read them.
Rating:
Summary: One of my memorable childhood reads- wonderful!
Review: The whole Betsy-Tacy series, especially
the high school and beyond ones, are books I
return to again and again with sentiment.
Though written in 1947 and set in the early
1900's, there is a timelessness to the frank
emotion and lush description of the teenage
adventures of our heroine, Betsy Ray. Betsy
is a good role model for today's young girls,
for though she is understandably interested
in boys and being well liked and known at
school, she is smart and has great ambitions
to be a great writer and a good sister.
Set in fictional Deep Valley, Minnesota but
based somewhat on the author's life and her
journals, the book is written with sweet
sentimentality and vivid memory of the
joys and heartaches of young adult life. It's
amazing how the feelings are very much the
same, though the 1900's were a different time
with different dress and customs. Readers
will love looking at Vera Neville's beautiful
drawings which should have been kept on the
paperback covers, and imagine a time when
lunch was called supper, boys came to "call",
all skirts came down to your ankles, and
friends sang around the piano knew how to waltz.
You will fall in love with the Ray family--
their fun traditions, the benign and joking
father, laughing and beautiful mother, sedate
Margaret the little sister, and of course
Julia, the lovely and soulful singer sister
who is always understanding and warm. Here
are parents still very much in love, sisters
who stopped fighting once they started high
school and actually support each other
.
The Ray family that welcomes visitors any
any time of the day, so their home is always
brimming with fun.
Heaven to Betsy is about Betsy's freshman
year in high school, when she discovers boys
and has her first crush on mysterious and
worldly Tony Markham, becomes active in
school societies in performance and competing
in the Essay Contest. It is a wonderful
portrait of mainstream America in the 1900's
as well as a book young women can relate to
as they struggle with their own pains and
enjoy the thrills of growing up.
|
