Betsy-Tacy and Tib
Age level: 6 - 9 years
SUMMARY: Betsy, Tacy, and Tib, who are now eight years old, play
just as well
together as Betsy and Tacy did, and they never quarrel. Tib, though less
imaginative than Betsy and Tacy, is a good sport and enchants the other two
with her beauty and accomplishments, which include dancing, cooking, and
sewing. Their games are even more imaginative, and their world expands
further up the Big Hill, which rises behind Betsy's house.
Betsy and Tacy Go Over the Big Hill
Age level: 8 - 11 years
SUMMARY: When Betsy, Tacy, and Tib turn ten and have "two
numbers" in their
ages, they make new discoveries which are fitting with their years. Through
their interest in the crowning of the new king of Spain and their friendship
with Naifi, who lives in a settlement of Syrian immigrants known as Little
Syria, they become aware of themselves as Americans in an international
world. Their interest in royalty results in a major quarrel with sisters
Julia and Katie over who should be crowned Queen of Summer and in Betsy's
recognition of stubbornness as one of her faults.
Winona's Pony Cart
Winona's Pony Cart is out of print.
Betsy and Tacy Go Downtown
Age Level: 10 - 13 years
SUMMARY: Now that Betsy, Tacy, and Tib are twelve, they
are old enough to
walk to town. With their new friend Winona, whose father can provide her with
complimentary tickets to plays, they discover the world of theater as both
audience and performers in the town's new Opera House. Betsy, who is
beginning to take her writing seriously, makes biweekly trips to the new
library. During their downtown explorations, the friends discover horseless
carriages, boys (though not to the extent of their sisters, Julia and Katie),
and Betsy's long-lost Uncle Keith.
Heaven to Betsy
Age Level: 12 - 17 years
SUMMARY: Betsy and Tacy are now freshmen at Deep Valley High
School. Betsy
must cope with many changes - a move to a new neighborhood, Tib's return to
Milwaukee, making new friends, and her strong interest in boys and resulting
dissatisfaction with her appearance. Her challenge is to adjust to these
changes while not neglecting her writing. Being high-spirited and gregarious,
Betsy finds herself a key member of the Crowd, which includes Tacy, Winona,
and many new friends. They have lots of fun, Betsy's heart gets broken, and
she learns the hard way to value herself and her writing ambitions. In
reviewing the year, Betsy perceives herself as having grown up considerably.
Betsy in Spite of herself
Age Level: 12 - 17 years
SUMMARY: During Betsy's sophomore year she becomes
dissatisfied with herself
and her personality. Tiring of her sisterly relationship with the boys in the
Crowd, she longs to be a "siren" like her sister Julia. She is particularly
interested in a new boy in town, Phil Brandish, who is handsome, older, and
owns a red auto. To snare him, a new personality is in order, and spending
Christmas in Milwaukee with Tib provides the perfect opportunity to do a
"come back completely changed" personality revision. It is a wonderful
Christmas for Betsy, during which she and Tib explore Milwaukee, enjoy a
German Christmas, and dream up a "dramatic and mysterious" personality for
Betsy. Upon returning home to Deep Valley, Betsy assumes the new personality;
and though the Crowd misses the old Betsy, Phil is smitten. Betsy finds it
difficult to maintain the role, however. This, and her refusal to neglect her
writing strains their relationship, which ultimately fails. The experience
teaches Betsy that although she must be true to herself, she can also stretch
the boundaries of her personality a little.
Betsy Was a Junior
Age Level: 12 - 17 years
SUMMARY: Betsy intends to make her junior year "simply
perfect." Since Julia
is leaving home to attend the university, Betsy makes plans to take Julia's
place by staying home more and learning to play the piano as Julia did. She
also plans to take school and her writing more seriously and to develop a
friendship with Joe Willard, her rival in composition courses and essay
contests throughout high school. The year starts out wonderfully with the
return of Tib to Deep Valley, but Betsy's resolve is thrown awry when Joe is
discovered to have acquired a girlfriend over the summer. Fascinated with
Julia's descriptions of college life and sororities, Betsy starts a sorority
consisting mainly of girls in her Crowd. Though she still works on her
writing and piano, her social life edges out her time at home and her other
schoolwork. It is a frivolous year all around; the sorority which deprived
her of some popularity eventually dissolves; and Betsy discovers that her
growing up, in spite of her best plans, is a long, slow process.
Betsy and Joe
Age level: 12-17
SUMMARY: During Betsy's senior year she and Joe finally begin
dating, and
they have wonderful times, as they share a common interest in writing and
literature. Their relationship is complicated, however, by Betsy's continuing
friendship with Tony, a member of the Crowd who has developed romantic
feelings toward her. Since she doesn't want to cut off Tony entirely, whose
tendency to wildness is tempered by his relationship to the Crowd, Betsy is
caught in a dilemma. Both relationships are rocky for awhile but eventually
all works out for the best, with Tony accepting Betsy's feelings for Joe and
Betsy and Joe making plans for the future.
Carney's House Party
Age Level: 14 - adult
Carney's House Party is out of print
SUMMARY: This book focuses on Betsy's high school friend,
Carney, who has
just finished her sophomore year at Vassar. After a college friend expresses
interest in visiting her in Deep Valley during the summer, Carney decides to
invite her to a house party which also includes her best friend, Bonnie (who
has just returned from Paris), and a surprise arrival from Betsy. There is
another surprise visitor that summer; Larry Humphreys, whose relationship
with Carney had been interrupted four years ago when his family moved to San
Diego. Meanwhile, Carney is becoming friends with Sam Hutchinson, the son of
an important family in Deep Valley. During Larry's visit, Carney must
evaluate her feelings for the two men and make her decision.
Emily of Deep Valley
Age Level: 14 - adult
Emily of Deep Valley is out of print
SUMMARY: Emily finishes her senior year at Deep Valley High
School and must
bear the pain of seeing all her friends leave for the university while she
must stay home and take care of her grandfather. She is very despondent, not
only from missing her old high school days, but also from being prevented
from fulfilling her dream to study social work at the university and become a
social reformer. One day she decides to "muster her wits to her own defense"
and makes plans to improve her situation. Her first change - a more grown-up
hairstyle - attracts the notice of Cab, one of Betsy's old friends, who takes
her to a dance. There Emily makes other friends, and these new friendships
lead her to becoming more involved in the community. As a result of this new
involvement, she observes how strained relations are between the Syrian
immigrants and the rest of Deep Valley. Emily then starts a boys' club,
including both Syrian and non-Syrian boys, to promote understanding between
the two cultures. Throughout her activities she finds herself coming alive,
falling in love, and discovering that she has fulfilled her dream right in
Deep Valley.
Betsy and the Great World
Age Level: 14 - adult
SUMMARY: It is 1914 and Betsy, disenchanted with college life,
sets off to
spend a year abroad. Her aims are to gain experience for her writing and to
"get over" Joe Willard, with whom she has quarreled. Her trip includes an
eventful ocean cruise, several months in Munich, a month and a half in
Venice, several weeks in Paris, and some time in London - interrupted by the
beginning of the war. During her year abroad, Betsy struggles with
homesickness and with making an adjustment to foreign life with only a rusty
knowledge of German and French; but, with her usual strength of spirit, she
resolves to improve her situation. The trip is full of friends, sights,
romance, and of course, her writing. Betsy develops a more global perspective
and returns home, just in time to escape the war, to Joe's awaiting arms.
Betsy's Wedding
Age Level: 14 - adult
SUMMARY: Once Betsy returns from Europe, she and Joe
decide to get married.
They move to Minneapolis, where Betsy's family and Tacy and her husband now
live. Joe works as a reporter, and Betsy struggles with learning the
household skills she never acquired. The two are wonderfully suited to each
other and adjust to married life well, in spite of differences in temperament
and traditions, dealing with a long visit from Joe's ailing aunt and worrying
about the war. Tib, still unmarried, is quite independent with her career and
new car. Betsy and Tacy, afraid that Tib's independence will prevent her from
marrying, try to match her up with various men, with tragic and comic
results. In the end, America joins the war and Joe must leave Betsy for
awhile, promising to return. Before he leaves, everyone attends Tib's wedding
(to a man she met on her own.)