Heaven to Betsy (Betsy-Tacy, #5) By Maud Hart Lovelace
Update 4/10/20 - During the current pandemic, rereading this was like eating a favorite comfort food. I loved the closeness of Betsy's family, the exploration of religion and spirituality, and the little details Maud used to describe each season of the year; summer, fall, winter, and spring.
9/28/13 - The more things change, the more they stay the same. Oh sure, the fashions were different in the first decade of the 1900s and perhaps the times more innocent. But mostly upon this most recent reread of a beloved series, I am struck by how much Betsy has in common with the youth of today. She's boy crazy, prefers friends to studying and finds it important to keep up with the latest fashions and health regimens. And just like teens today and always, the universe revolves around her. English I have reread this series several times and love them all. However this was not the right book for my current season of stress, etc, right now. 🙃 I had a hard time enjoying the light, playful storylines that are normally so fun.
This would be a much better read for December as there are many Christmas and winter chapters.
Betsy gets a Ouija board for Christmas which they use for silly questions, but I wouldn’t condone obviously.
I found the last third more enjoyable as I was probably in a better mindset. 🤗
Betsy’s honesty and mishaps of 9th grade are refreshing and amusing. I remember well how appalled I was on first reading this seventeen years ago (at age 30). Betsy had turned boy-crazy and the new illustrator made all the characters look like vacuous dolls. I recovered from these twin blows enough to persevere with the series, and even managed to enjoy it, especially the later books, which were the only ones I reread.
Still, it's been a surprise, a very nice one, to reread the books now, after letting them lie fallow for a good long time, and to find I appreciate them far more. Somehow, I am more willing to be tolerant of Betsy's silliness over boys this time around, more willing to be amused and to recognize that Lovelace doesn't necessarily mean for us to find it admirable! I was also far more willing to be interested in Betsy's new high school friends, especially Carney (originally, I agreed with Betsy's first assessment of her as a stick), having gotten to know and really like her in one of those later books, Carney's House Party.
I still dislike the illustrations as much as ever, and tried not to look at them.
A note on the edition: I was surprised and a little saddened to find that the copy of the book I read this time around (an older one, a 28th printing of the original hardback) is the only one the Queens library system owns (and this is the library with the largest circulation numbers in the country, I've been told). Worse, they don't have any of the books that come later! And the New York Public Library, which I also use, only has them in electronic versions. O tempora, o mores! I'll never be among the most fanatical of the Betsy fans, but it still makes me sad to think these books aren't as readily available as they should be for the rising generation. 268 This is the first book in the series of older Betsy even though it is actually the 5th book in the series. Heaven to Betsy is one of the most characteristic of this loved series. If you haven't read any of the others, you'd still enjoy it! Betsy and Tacy enter the wider world of the Deep Valley High School, the Crowd, sings around Julia's piano, fudge, Heinz's . . . full of gentle humor, vivid characterization, and affection. It's Betsy Ray's freshman year at Deep Valley High School, and she and her best childhood chum, Tacy Kelly, are loving every minute. Betsy and Tacy find themselves in the midst of a new crowd of friends, with studies aplenty (including Latin and--ugh--algebra), parties and picnics galore, Sunday night lunches at home--and boys!
There's Cab Edwards, the jolly boy next door; handsome Herbert Humphreys; and the mysteriously unfriendly, but maddeningly attractive, Joe Willard. Betsy likes them all, but no boy in particular catches her fancy until she meets the new boy in town, Tony Markham . . . the one she and Tacy call the Tall Dark Handsome Stranger. He's sophisticated, funny, and dashing--and treats Betsy just like a sister. Can Betsy turn him into a beau?
An entertaining picture of school clubs, fudge parties, sings around the piano, and Sunday-night suppers in Betsy's hospitable home.
The Betsy-Tacy books were highly autobiographical and Lovelace perfectly captures the innocence and magic of childhood. If you read this book and love it, please read the series. It will be books that you will never forget as long as you live. I also recommend the Betsy-Tacy Companion which is an amazing book that disects each book and compares it to it's real-life counterparts, including pictures of the real Betsy, Tacy, Tib and all the gang.
I had the pleasure of visiting Deep Valley (aka Mankato, Minnesota) for a Betsy-Tacy convention back in 1996. It was incredible to step back in time and enter Betsy's world. We toured the city and I was actually able to step foot in Tacy's bedroom and sit on the famous bench at the top of the big hill. It was truly a life-altering experience. I have to thank my sister, Julie for introducting these books to me and changing my life.
It's obvious how much these books mean to me. My first born child was named Tacy Kelly Maloy. Please read and enjoy. They are a treasure!
English When I first joined goodreads I added most of this series as the omnibus editions, even though I did not read them that way. Every time I remember that it bothers me, and I'm FINALLY fixing it.
I honestly can't remember my childhood without reading Betsy-Tacy. I keep thinking I didn't read her high school years until I was older, but actually... I must've been 11 or 12. And I didn't stop re-reading them for years. As a pre-teen, I considered myself an amalgamation of Betsy and Tacy. I didn't have the boy-craziness of Betsy, but I did want to be a writer. With Tacy however, I related to her reserved nature........ and the fact she didn't crush on boys like her friends. In fact, on the blog I kept as a 12 year old, I posted quotes of all the times where Tacy talks about this. I ended the post with the thought that TACY ROCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!! Can't believe I turned out to be so gay. Shocking. Childrens Books, History, Literature Fiction
ISBN 10: 0064401103 Heaven to Betsy (Betsy-Tacy, #5)
This book is just fine. But there's too much change! Ah!
First of all, Betsy moves! And then, because of that...
My main qualm is that there is way way way too much boy-stuff and not NEARLY enough Tacy. In fact, since Tacy isn't boy crazy she ends up on the periphery of pretty much all the goings on of freshman year. And in turn, I ended up resenting every other girl introduced in this book. In short: screw you, Bonnie and Carney. Give me back my Tacy. ASAP. Also, it was clear all along what a bad seed Tony was, and I was pretty furious with Betsy for falling for him. So yeah. Those are my gripes.
At the same time, I thought it was a fascinating, accurate, and a throughly, surprisingly modern potrayal of coming of age. There are sleepovers, there are b'girl parties, there are boys walking girls home alone(!), ouija boards, , they all get around the piano and sing the same songs over and over (pre-radio, pre-MTV, but still, a teenage culture ruled by musical romanticism). There are lots of kissings on the cheek.
Betsy screws up a lot and cries a little. In the end she realizes the crowd is for a time, but her writing is forever, and that she needs to concentrate on it harder. More power to you, Betsy.
AND she and her sister decide they want to be Episcopalian instead of Baptist! And their dad says, well, ok. It's a really well written, tense, and realistic scene. And then he makes coffee, because that's what the Rays do when they're stressed.
It all could have been so cheesy, but every feeling in this book rang so true. Man oh man, I know I'm giving it a three because I resented the Tacylessness, but I was super into it, clearly, and hope the quiet rift between Betsy and Tacy is addressed (sometimes best friends fight, yo) in a later book. Hill Street 4ever, yo. Heaven to Betsy (Betsy-Tacy, #5) With every book my love for this series grows. I love Betsy (even if she IS rather boy crazy in this one) and I love her family and I love her friendship with Tacy. It’s all just so lovely. Heaven to Betsy (Betsy-Tacy, #5) 3.5 stars. I didn't love this as much as the previous four books, but it may not be the book's fault as much my own. First of all, I expected the book to be a comfort read, but most of it was about the disappointments and growing pains of Betsy's first year of high school. So I suffered along with our heroine!
Secondly, I'm more like Tacy than Betsy when it came to being crazy about boys. Sure, I had crushes, but I was never all-consumed with getting a boyfriend in my high school days. I was frustrated with Betsy for being so shallow in this area, but it comes out alright in the end.
Overall I enjoyed Lovelace's good storytelling and Betsy's growth in wisdom. The author did a beautiful job of showing her growth in faith without being preachy, which is no easy feat.
On to the sequel!
Paperback I love this book! I love Betsy and the Rays and the world of Deep Valley! I am discovering them for the first time as an adult and, while part of me is sad I missed out on counting Betsy as a book-chum all these years (I know I would have found her such a kindred spirit in my own teen years), I'm also very glad to be discovering these books at this time in my life -- it is such a joy and a relief from some of the difficult realities in my life right now to slip into Betsy's world of youthful joys and tribulations that are never as terrible as they may seem.
I had several friends who raved about Betsy-Tacy when I was in my early teens. For some reason, I hadn't been introduced to these books as a child. When I picked up the first book to give it a try in more advanced years, I think it was just too young for me and I put it down without realizing that the writing style gains more depth and breadth as the girls grow. (If any one else out there has felt the same way, please don't ignore the series like I did! Skip ahead to the third book, or even the fifth book, and see what you think then!) Not wanting to deprive my own children of a book much beloved by many, I read the first book to read to my oldest (six years old) a few months ago and he loved it. We kept with the series through the fourth book but he lost interest when Betsy goes to high school. I kept on reading on my own and am so glad I am doing so!
I loved Heaven to Betsy so much I just wanted to hug it when I had finished. It made me wish (not for the first time) that my own high school years could have been in a time and place like Deep Valley â€" I probably would have been much more outgoing if I could have enjoyed such innocent fun as Betsy had with “The Crowd†â€" all that laughter and palling around â€" and fudge! ;-) and the gatherings at Betsy’s house dancing and singing around the piano. *wistful sigh* I find Betsy a kindred spirit with her love of writing and (as in her previous books) I was impressed with the progressive turn of events and the way Mr and Mrs Ray handled Betsy and Julia wishing to become Episcopalians. I’m looking forward to the rest of the series and am happy to finally join the ranks of Betsy-Tacy fans. Childrens Books, History, Literature Fiction The Betsy-Tacy series was one of my 'comfort read' mainstays when I was growing up, but it has been many years since I had last read the older high school books. Over the next six weeks, I plan on rereading the last six books of the series: starting with this chronicle of Betsy's freshman year in high school and concluding with Betsy's Wedding.
Let me just say this: I've read literally hundreds of YA books (both contemporary and classic) in the last decade. A small percentage of them feature happy families and loving, loyalty friendships; the latter probably being slightly more common than the former. Part of the appeal of Lovelace's beloved books, based so closely on her own life, is that they give the reader a cosy, insider's glimpse into the world of turn-of-the-century small town Minnesota. (The fictional town of Deep Valley is based on Mankato, Lovelace's hometown.). But probably the most wholesome aspect of this series is that Betsy is a well-adjusted, (mostly) happy girl in a happy family. Dysfunctional families are a dime a dozen in realistic YA, but it is rare to find families who truly love and enjoy each other.
The book opens with a not altogether pleasant surprise for Betsy: her family is moving away from Hill Street on the edge of town - and just across the street from Tacy's house - to a bigger, newer house in High Street. There is a lot of change in this book: the new house, starting high school, boy craziness, Betsy's first real crush, religious conversion and friends coming and going. It's also the first time that her best friend Tacy is not absolutely at the center of her world. Although Betsy struggle with small vanities and some laziness, she mostly lives a charmed life - and is entirely happy within it. She is a sentimentalist who deeply loves her life and doesn't really yearn for the Great Wide World like her older sister Julia does. But she also dreams of becoming a writer - and by the end of this novel she has fresh resolve for shaping her future towards that goal. English
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