Customer Reviews

Understood Betsy

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I read it over and over.

Reading it as an adult I still enjoyed it, but I gained some insight as to why. This novel is about a young girl who feels that the world is a dangerous place and who goes around feeling vulnerable and apprehensive. The relatives who have cared for her have taught her to be frightened. self-doubting, and lacking in self-confidence. Betsy is saved by an illness in one of her aunts that requires her to go live elsewhere. The only option is to live with some other relatives who live in Vermont (in the country), and her aunts think this is not a good place for her to go but there is no choice. The Vermont relatives treat her like a normal and capable young girl who is expected to pull her share of the load.

From them, and through her experiences living in the country, Betsy discovers she is competent and that the world is not so dangerous. She experiences love that is not suffocating. She builds self-confidence and self-esteem and becomes a responsible, happy little girl who knows that whatever difficulties present themselves, she will be able to deal with them. I also loved the family she went to live with and wished I could live on a farm in Vermont, too, and make maple sugar in the snow!

This is a particularly wonderful book for girls because it is about discovering one's own competence and abilities. I would put it in the same category as "Brave Irene" by Steig, only this book is for the 8-12 year old range, I think.

In the beginning, as Peggy Parrish puts it, Elizabeth Ann was a wimp.

She was sent to her cousins, the Putneys, in the middle of her story. They began to teach her how to think for herself.

By the end of the story she could think about anything she wanted to without explaining it to anyone. This is a very well written story. It's a wonderful book relating to life at the turn of the century. It shows how schools, homes and lifestyles have changed over the years. This is one of the top ten books on my personal list.

I received this book as a Christmas present in 1997 when I was eight years old. I thought it was an excellent story because Betsy really improved in her new one-room school. Her teacher is really nice because she let Betsy read with the seventh graders, do second grade math and third grade spelling!

This story really makes you feel like you are Betsy's friend Ellen. I also like how she and the other girls in her one-room school joined together to make new clothes for the boy whose stepfather is an alcoholic. All the people are really caring in this book.

The last word of _Understood Betsy_ is "Happiness" - and yet here I am, crying. A bit like the _Little House_ books, _Understood Betsy_ gives nitty gritty, realistic details of what daily life was like for a little girl living on a small farm in Vermont in 1906. Betsy herself is just as fascinated to hear about what life was like before she was born, when lead pencils were cast in a groove on a desk in the schoolhouse, as I was to read the descriptions of Betsy learning to manually mold and churn butter. Yet all this history is purely incidental to Betsy's story. One year with her no-nonsense country relatives transform Betsy from a fearful, sheltered nine-year old into a confident and responsible ten-year old. The gentle irony of the narrator's voice allows us to identify with Betsy's insecurity and self-pity, while realizing that her apprehensions are merely silly notions planted in her head by overprotective aunts. Though Betsy may at times feel abandoned and bewildered, she is surrounded by love, and has the common sense to snap out of her brooding whenever something interesting happens. I cried so much that watching me, you would have thought the book to be quite tragic; but the tears were tears of pride and happiness for Betsy. What a great book :-)

Oh how I wanted to be Elizabeth Ann when I was little and first read this book! First of all, I thought that Elizabeth Ann was far and away the most beautiful name I had ever heard in my entire life. And I definately identified with the dull suburban upbringing, though perhaps my parents weren't quite so hypochondriatic. How I wished that some distant relatives with a farm would suddenly appear, and take me away so that I could eat maple sugar candy and learn how to churn butter and rescue kittens and go to a one room school house!

Twenty years after I first discovered this book, it is still one of my favorites. Written by a leading advocate for Montessori-style teaching, this book empahises the importantes of self-reliance and self-teaching. Although I recognize the moralizing, now that I'm a grown-up, I never felt it when I was a kid and simply delighted in reading (over and over and over again) about the adventures of Betsy and her eccentric Vermont relatives.

I read this book countless times when I was younger, constantly checking it out from the library. I rediscovered it recently after finding it again at my college. I reread it and found it just as good as I had remembered; not only this, I read it to my roommate, who also loved it. This is the general reaction from those I've met who read it -- they loved it.

Many others have already given info about the story, so I'll try not to repeat that. I think my favorite part is the way that the author addresses the reader, managing to communicate her own opinions while not distracting you from the story. This particularly makes it possible not to take Betsy and her neuroses too seriously during the beginning when she's still afraid of her own shadow. I also appreciate the author's sympathetic view of Betsy. She could easily have described her as a difficult, obnoxious brat (which is probably the way many of her aunts' friends in the city thought of her), but instead she shows us Betsy's strength and true character that comes out gradually as she is challenged rather than coddled. It is a definite success of the author that you grow fond of her rather than wanting to throw your arms up in the air in disgust (at the beginning of the story, anyway; by the end Betsy is very strong, capable, and worthy of our respect).

The setting is also very well-done. As many others have mentioned, it gives you a strong feel for the time period and for what life was like back then. This book provided me with one of the strongest mental pictures of what life in our country was like a century ago, and this picture was vivid enough to remain with me for years. Well-done plot, likeable and realistic characters, a strong setting, the ability to make its readers remember it for years -- this book has the necessary ingredients for a true classic.

I almost wrote "My Favorite Children's Book", but that would be misleading, because I can still read and enjoy it now. It doesn't condescend to children and appeals mainly to genuine emotions, not sentiment, so it really holds up over time.

The plot, briefly, is about a nine-year old orphan, Elizabeth Ann, who lives with her aunt and a cousin. When her aunt falls ill, Elizabeth Ann has to go live with some rural Vermont relatives, whom the rest of her family has never liked. At first Elizabeth Ann is afraid of them, too--they immediately shorten her name to Betsy--but she eventually overcomes her shyness and blossoms in the rural environment. She also learns to be much less nervous and uptight.

What really makes this book stand out are its digressions. The author, Dorothy Canfield Fisher, often informally addresses the reader: one chapter is called, "If You Don't Like Conversation in a Book, then Skip This Chapter!" The most insightful sequences show Betsy discovering that not all learning takes place in school; measuring butter with her aunt, she is astounded to discover that "an ounce" exists in real life. She thought it was only found in textbooks. But you have to read the book to see how well this is pulled off.

When I was a child I owned an edition with an afterward by Peggy Parrish, which pointed out how modern the book was for its time (it was published in 1917.) Indeed, the women and men share all the tasks, and Betsy is forbidden from nothing because of her gender. That makes this book a really excellent and inspiring gift for young girls, although its message of equality is never heavy-handed.

Occasionally there are sections that are too sentimental, and not really necessary to the story, but the rest is so good that this is easy to forgive. Conclusion: Buy it for a child, but read it for yourself first!

I first read this book in my elementary school library. I loved the book then, and I love it now. I read the book to my daughter when she was a little girl, and it was she who told me about this new edition! I was also a timid little girl, and after I read Understood Betsy, I would think, "Betsy did things that frightened her...so can I." My favorite chapter is "Betsy's Birthday," and Betsy's discovery that "she had made the Putney cousins proud" still makes me teary. I am thrilled to see that a book which meant so much to me is still brightening hearts and souls.

I first received "Understood Betsy" when I was 8 years old, over 20 years ago, and I still remember some of the passages and characters as if I had read them yesterday. I read and reread this book countless times throughout my childhood.

Written in 1916, "Understood Betsy" immmerses the reader into rural life in the 1800's. Elizabeth goes from the city to live with farmer cousins, who call her Betsy. She then becomes a girl who learns to do things for herself, think for herself, and take care of others.

Most interesting, the book shows the older view of treasuring common day moments, such as making the applesauce or playing dolls. If you always enjoyed the "Little House" and "Caddie Woodlawn" books, then you will LOVE "Understood Betsey", which delves even more into the everyday life of girls in that time.

My mother bought this book for me since I was a very shy and reserved child. She is a teacher and wanted to help me overcome the shyness. We read this book together and as Elizabeth Ann became Betsy, I began to open up as well. The growth of this little girl is evident and you really want her to achieve things. She is so likable as well as the other characters in the book. Dorothy Canfield Fisher should be congratulated in this "growing up" kind of book. This is a must read for any girl, even the not so shy to understand what others go through. I can't wait to read it to my 4 year old and 11 month old girls! A real treasure of literature.

I was introduced to this book by a friend while staying at their vacation home on Lake Champlain in Vermont. It had rained most of the stay and I had exhausted my own supply of books and was wandering through their dusty library shelves when the dame of the home entered and knowing that I am an avid reader, recommended this book. She is a woman in her 70's and said that to this day she reads the book about once a year. I was instantly smitten and spent the next day and a half reading constantly, much to the chagrine of my husband who could not believe that I took the book in the tub, on the boat, to bed, and to a hidden spot in the servant's quarters in the attic to finally finish the text.

The writing is easy and eloquent. The story is funny and simple. I love how Ms. Fisher gives us the ability to see what's going on in Betsy's mind and the haughty-taughty little gal is a hoot! I found myself wishing I was 12 and had just read the book. I know I would put on the character and emulate the old-fashioned principles idealized in this quaint story!