Betsy-Tacy and Tib is every bit as good as Betsy-Tacy! In fact, it might be even a little bit better because the girls are a little older and the duo has become a trio with the addition of Tib. The best way I can describe this series is old-fashioned fun. They’re simply the story of three little girls and their experiences. Their hi-jinks (how’s that for an old-fashioned word?) remind me a little bit of the stories my mother tells about her own childhood. In Betsy-Tacy and Tib, the girls do everything from masquerading as beggars at a neighbor’s house to forming their own Christian Kindness Club (as a reaction to their older sisters’ club which they are not invited to join). Oh, there’s also the requisite haircutting episode and my personal favorite, the time when the girls are allowed to “keep house” alone and practice their cooking skills by concocting a dish they call “Everything Pudding.” This book is just plain FUN. It also includes the subtleties that a friendship of three girls will ‘most always include. For example, Maud Hart Lovelace does a fine job of repeatedly pointing out that Tib is the one who is the most grounded in reality. Tib’s always the one to point out why some scheme or other won’t work, but this observation follows every paragraph in which Tib lets their air out of the other girls’ balloons, so to speak:
Tib always said things like that. But Betsy and Tacy liked her just the same.
Our particular edition of the book (I believe it’s the same as the one pictured above) includes information about the author, too. We enjoyed reading a little about Maud Hart Lovelace’s life and about how she came to write these books that very closely mirror her own childhood. What a sweet time–childhood in a true age of innocence. (Isn’t that what we want for our own children? It’s certainly what I want for mine!)
If you have little girls, or not so little girls, I think you’ll find these especially enjoyable. This fall would be a great time to plunge into this series, too, so you can join in the Maud Hart Lovelace Reading Challenge!
Have you read any good books lately with your children? Please share! Either link up your Read Aloud Thursday blog post below, or simply leave a comment.
Happy Read Aloud Thursday, everyone!
Love Betsy-Tacy … that whole series is just fabulous! If this baby had been a girl there was a tiny part that was itching to name it Tacy, just because. : )
These stories sound lovely. I smiled at “hi jinks”! And I remember my older brother’s “No Girls Allowed” club… Wish I’d thought of a similarly guilt-inducing counter-club!
Yes, even without girls Betsy-Tacy is just plain old-fashioned FUN! I’m starting Heaven to Betsy today. Woo hoo!
As for my RAT post – still playing catch up and getting life back in order. Was supposed to make it to the library yesterday but ran out of time. Next week! I’ll be back next week!
As a child, the Betsy-Tacy books were some of my favorites!
I’m so glad to hear you’ve continued with the series and that you loved BTT! I encourage you to keep on reading Betsy-Tacy because what’s so great about the series is that you can grow up right along with Betsy and Tacy. I remember so distinctly the day I realized that the books continued and Betsy was now in high school (Heaven to Betsy). I think I was about 12 at the time and I was so excited to meet up with Betsy again – as she was going through things I would soon be going through myself! You may already know from the upcoming MHL challenge that the final three books in Lovelace’s Deep Valley series (which are tangential to the BT series) are being reissued this coming October. Winona’s Pony Cart would be about the right age for your daughters. It’s being reissued with Carney’s House Party, which is about one of Betsy’s high school friends in the years following high school. Melissa Wiley of the blog Here in the Bonny Glen (http://melissawiley.com/blog/) has written a new foreword to this edition. Emily of Deep Valley is also being reissued, with a foreword by acclaimed YA author Mitali Perkins. I can’t wait to read more about your family’s adventure with Betsy!
Thanks, Sarah (Book Club Girl), for your response! I will certainly look for Winona’s Pony Cart. Would you recommend my going straight through the series with my girls (ages 6 and 4, currently), or wait on the older ones when they’ll appreciate them more? I’m sure there’s nothing in them that would be truly inappropriate, but maybe it would be more interesting for them to wait until they understand them better. Hmmm. . . .
I read this outloud to my daughter several years ago and when I got to the haircutting session I was having a hard time reading it. I kept laughing and exclaiming “Oh, no!” because I knew what was going to happen.
I know I’m not Sarah, but after reading Betsy, Tacy and Tib we ended up moving and didn’t get around to the next book in the series until this last year. I thinked that it worked out well, since Heavens to Betsy starts Betsy’s high school years and is still over my daughter’s head, though I highly suggest you continue reading the series!
I am so glad you DID review this book, because I have never heard of it before! I must be the very last person on Earth. So thanks for the review. Now I feel like I must introduce myself to these characters. 🙂
I think that the four younger books, Betsy Tacy, Betsy Tacy and Tib, Betsy and Tacy Go Over the Big Hill and Betsy and Tacy Go Downtown are good for a girl from ages 5-12 –She might not be ready for Downtown until she’s about 12, the books really progress in complexity. And definitely wait until about 12 for Heaven to Betsy and the rest of the high school and beyond books. The content is totally fine, but the high school hijinks and boy/girl stuff will be boring before then (one hopes ;)). Winona’s Pony Cart fits in more with the first 4, it’s definitely for the younger set. I hope that helps!