Heaven to Betsy/Betsy in Spite of Herself [Paperback]

Maud Hart Lovelace (Author)

Book Description

Age Level: 9 and up | Grade Level: 4 and up

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?

Editorial Reviews

Review

“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 )

“Some characters become your friends for life. That’s how it was for me with Betsy-Tacy.” (Judy Blume, bestselling author )

“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 )

“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 )

“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 )

“The Betsy-Tacy books were among my favorites when I was growing up.” (Nora Ephron, Academy Award-nominated director )

“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 )

“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 )

About the Author

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.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 9 and up
  
• Paperback: 704 pages
• Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks (September 29, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0061794694
• ISBN-13: 978-0061794698
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.3 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #69,393 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Maud Hart Lovelace, born in 1892, is the author of the Betsy-Tacy series, in addition to several other books for adults and children. She based the Betsy-Tacy series on her own childhood and once wrote, "I lived the happiest childhood a child could possibly know," and it is this joy that comes through in her books. She died in 1980 but her legacy lives on in the beloved series she created and in her legions of fans, many of whom are members of the Betsy-Tacy Society, a national organization based in Mankato, MN.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The High School Betsy Tacy Books are The Best!, October 3, 2009

By 

J. Hart "Book Club Girl" (Maplewood NJ) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Heaven to Betsy/Betsy in Spite of Herself (Paperback)

I read these books as a child and reread them to this day. The first four books, Betsy Tacy, Betsy Tacy and Tib, Betsy and Tacy Go Over the Big Hill, Betsy and Tacy Go Downtown are wonderful for a girl age 5 and up. The books progress in reading level as they go, as well as in themes. The final six books in the series, just reissued in 3 2-book volumes, are absolutely amazing. They are Heaven to Betsy/Betsy in Spite of Herself; Betsy was a Junior/Betsy and Joe; Betsy and the Great World/Betsy's Wedding and are great for a girl age 9 and up. We follow Betsy through four years of high school, with dances, rides in autos, boys and hijinks. Then she's off for a year of travel in Europe just prior to the outbreak of WWI and then she returns home to marry her high school sweetheart and begin on her writing career. Lovelace based these books on her own upbringing in Mankato, Minnesota and they are simply wonderful. This summer I traveled to Mankato for the Betsy Tacy Convention and saw Betsy's, Tacy's and Tib's house. I cannot wait to read these with my own daughter, but in the meantime, I will continue to reread them. They are my literary equivalent of comfort food. Fans include such bestselling authors as Meg Cabot, Laura Lippman, Anna Quindlen, Nora Ephron, Judy Blume, Nancy Pearl, Joyce Maynard, and Mary Kay Andrews!

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Old favorites republished in beautiful form, October 3, 2009

By 

Jessica Weissman "poet and computer programmer" (Silver Spring, MD USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Heaven to Betsy/Betsy in Spite of Herself (Paperback)

Betsy Ray and her friends are in high school now. This volume covers Betsy's freshman and sophomore years in Deep Valley High School, and comes with bonus information about the author and the real life originals of the characters.

Boys, clothes, gossip, teachers, who's in and who's out, putting off your schoolwork, dances, food, and other forms of fun fill their high school days. Who will Betsy go out with on any given weekend? Who will ask her to the dance first? What will she and her friends get up to on their own?

Will Betsy be true to herself as a writer, or try to act different to attract boys? Will it work?

All this is set in the first decade of the 20th century, when cars and phones and such were new. People walked most places they wanted to go, or took the train. Clothes were made to order by seamstresses. But even if they looked different, people don't change much. This is the best picture of how high school feels that I know of.

So come live through it with Betsy, Tacy, Tib, Irma, Winona and more. Not to mention Tony, Cab, Phil, LLoyd, and a host of others.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Comfort Reads, October 3, 2009

By 

Carol McGee - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Heaven to Betsy/Betsy in Spite of Herself (Paperback)

The first two novels in the high school books are big favorites of mine. When I was in high school, my parents got a divorce and my mom and I moved to a small apartment and my life changed immeasurably. But I could always count on Betsy and the members of her crowd to help me deal with the immense upheaval I was going through. Reading these for the first or the fiftieth time you realize that the more things change, the more they stay the same. When you're 14, (in 1906 or 1982) you have HUGE all-encompassing crushes, and you have the best friends you'll EVER have, and every little change is a LIFE-CHANGER (or at least, that's how it feels!). Read these books and no matter how old you are, you'll return to them again and again because they're that soothing.