Skip to main content

Betsy-Tacy

Cover image for Betsy-Tacy

by Maud Hart Lovelace
New York : Crowell, c1940.

It's the late 1800s, and 5-year-old Betsy wants nothing more than a friend. When a new family moves in across the street, Betsy watches the new family from her window. They seem to have children of all ages, but none just her age. Finally, the horse and buggy pull away, and Betsy sees her. Tacy, the friend she's been hoping for. Betsy goes out to talk to her, but Tacy (short for Anastacia) is shy and runs away. Eventually Tacy warms up to Betsy and the two girls become known around the town of Deep Valley for being inseparable.  

The Betsy-Tacy girls do almost everything together.  They play together and make up fun imaginary games. They dress up in their best clothes and go "calling" on their neighbors. They also support each other through rough times, like when Tacy doesn't want to go to school because she's too shy, or Betsy doesn't like her new baby sister. 

This is a sweet story of friendship between two young girls. Each chapter is it's own short story, making it a great read aloud book or a good first chapter book for young readers. It's the first in the series, which follows Betsy and Tacy into their teen years.  Fans of the Anne of Green Gables series and anyone who's longed for a best friend will enjoy this series. 

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Stand Tall by Joan Bauer

Stand Tall By Siena Siegel by Joan Bauer Putnam, 2002, 182 pgs Realistic Fiction Tree is 12 years old and over 6 feet tall. That would be great if he were a basketball player, but he is not. Dealing with his unusual size is not Tree's only challenge. Tree's parents have recently gone through a divorce, and his grandfather has had his leg amputated as the result of an old Vietnam War injury. The strength of this book is the characterizations. All of the main characters are dimensional and sympathetic. Bauer sets the characters in real and often funny family situations. Best of all is the character of Tree. He is boy with a heart to match his stature. This is a great book for boys or girls ages 9-12, as a read aloud or for individual reading. This book could also be a good Rx book for children whose families are going through divorce, or for anyone who feels like they don't fit in.

Review: The New Girl

The New Girl By Cassandra Calin New York: Graphix, 2024. Comic. 261 pages. 12-year-old Lia and her family have just moved from Romania to Montreal, and she's doing her best to keep up with the changes. But, she's homesick. She misses the rest of her family, her friends, and her favorite Romanian treats. She doesn't speak French and her English is shaky, which makes it hard to make friends, even in her international immersion class. And she's dealing with super painful menstrual cramps every month. But before long, Lia starts to hit her stride. She befriends the other bilingual girls in her class, she gets a spot as the artist for her school's magazine, and even has a new crush -- Julien. Though she may be the new girl, Lia is starting to fit in. This slice of life graphic novel is an adorable choice for middle grade readers and young teens. Lia is a likable protagonist and readers will have little difficulty relating to her adjustment to school. The text speaks to a...

Review: Cincinnati Lee, Curse Breaker

  Cincinnati Lee, Curse Breaker By Heidi Heilig New York: Greenwillow Books, 2025. Fiction. 291 pages. Thanks to Cincinnati Lee's no good, dirty rotten, artifact stealing great great great grandfather, Cincinnati's family is now cursed and Cincinnati feels like it's up to her to break the curse. Which involves trying to steal the artifacts back from museums that her grandfather robbed from graves and archeological sites around the world and return them to their countries of origin. But when Cincinnati's first artifact stealing mission goes awry, she decides it might be more effective to steal an all-powerful artifact herself that she can use to break the curse - The Spear of Destiny. Unfortunately her race for the spear will pit her against art smugglers and thieves intent on finding the ancient artifact themselves. If you are looking for an Indiana Jones read-alike, this is the perfect for you! Heavy on the adventure with similar levels of mysticism to those seen in th...