Heaven to Betsy/Betsy in Spite of Herself
By Maud Hart Lovelace
(William Morrow Paperbacks, Paperback, 9780061794698, 704pp.)
Publication Date: October 2009
Other Editions of This Title: Google eBook
Categories: Historical - United States - 20th Century, Social Issues - Friendship
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Heaven to Betsy: Betsy Ray is loving every minute of freshman year at Deep Valley High—with new and old friends all around her . . . not to mention boys! But most intriguing of all is the one she and her best friend, Tacy, dub "the Tall Dark Stranger."
Betsy in Spite of Herself: Betsy is at the center of every activity as a Deep Valley High sophomore—and suddenly, thanks to her old friend Tib, she's offered a golden opportunity for glorious transformation. But will she impress the special boy by becoming dramatic, mysterious Betsye—or would she be better off just being Betsy in spite of herself?
Maud Hart Lovelace (1892-1980) based her Betsy-Tacy series on her own childhood. Her series still boasts legions of fans, many of whom are members of the Betsy-Tacy Society, a national organization based in Mankato, Minnesota.
“I re-read these books every year, marveling at how a world so quaint--shirtwaists! Pompadours! Merry Widow hats!--can feature a heroine who is undeniably modern.”
-Laura Lippman
“Slipping into a Betsy book is like slipping into a favorite pair of well-worn slippers: It’s always a pleasure to live in Betsy’s world for a little while, to experience her simple joys, but also her (thankfully short-lived) sorrows.”
-Meg Cabot
“There are three authors whose body of work I have reread more than once over my adult life: Charles Dickens, Jane Austen and Maud Hart Lovelace. We fell in love....and wanted to know from year to year what was happening to them. Betsy-Tacy fans never die. They just re-read.”
-Anna Quindlen
“Family loyalty and the devotion of friends to one another, which for me are the defining characteristics of the Betsy-Tacy stories.”
-Esther Hautzig, Award-winning author, former Director of Children’s Book Promotion for Thomas Y. Crowell Co., and former publicist for Betsy’s Wedding in 1955
“I truly consider BETSY AND TACY GO DOWNTOWN to be the finest novel in the English language! I will never love any other books as much as I love the Betsy-Tacy books.”
-Claudia Mills, children’s book author, winner of National Book Award and Golden Kite Award
“I grew up 30 miles north of Mankato, and trips to town were filled with mystery and magic, because I was walking the same streets that Betsy and Tacy once walked. The Betsy-Tacy books...., more than any other books, fed my dream of becoming a writer one day.”
-Jill Kalz, 2008 MN Book Awards Readers' Choice Award winner
“When I was growing up in the Bronx, I had lots of friends. But the girls I most enjoyed spending time with were Betsy, Tacy and Tib....in the series by Maud Hart Lovelace... – three girls full of good ideas, adventures and fun.”
-Johanna Hurwitz, award-winning author of more than sixty popular books for young readers
“The Betsy-Tacy books were among my favorites when I was growing up.”
-Nora Ephron, Academy Award-nominated director
“I am fairly certain that my independent, high-spirited grandmother must have had a childhood similar to Betsy Ray’s…As I read..., I felt that I was having an unexpected and welcome peek into Granny’s childhood—a gift to me from Maud Hart Lovelace.”
-Ann M. Martin, creator/author of The Baby-sitter's Club
“Some characters become your friends for life. That’s how it was for me with Betsy-Tacy.”
-Judy Blume, bestselling author
“I read every one of these Betsy-Tacy-Tib books twice. I loved them as a child, as a young adult, and now, reading them with my daughter, as a mother. What a wonderful world it was!”
-Bette Midler, actor and singer
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