And they learn that they themselves wouldn't want to be anything else.Įver since their first publication in the 1940s, the Betsy-Tacy stories have been loved by each generation of young readers. They learn that new Americans are sometimes the best Americans. There Betsy, Tacy, and Tib make new friends and learn a thing or two. And they do! The girls fall in love with the King of Spain, perform in the School Entertainment, and for the first time, go all the way over the Big Hill to Little Syria by themselves. After all, getting two numbers in your age is the beginning of growing up-exciting things are bound to happen. I am only sorry that I didn’t read them earlier.Summary: Betsy, Tacy, and Tib can't wait to be ten. They are precious and delightful and full of gentle lessons about love, friendship, and respect. I cannot express the true extent of just the innocence and joy in these books.

Lois Lenski’s illustrations are perfect as well. I have read the first three books now, but the series concludes with Betsy’s Wedding, so apparently they still have quite a lot of growing to do! In Betsy-Tacy, the girls are quite little, but they grow throughout the series. Much of the book is not so much actual adventures as it is the stories that Betsy tells of their imaginary adventures, which are often quite imaginative indeed! After a rocky start, the girls become firm friends. A new family moves in across the street, and they have lots of children, including a girl just Betsy’s age. In this first book, Betsy lives with her parents and her older sister, Julia. I keep waiting for something bad to happen, and nothing ever does! And yet they still manage to be quite readable, even without any kind of villain. These are the most stress-free books you could ever want to read. They are set at the turn of the century, and focus on the adventures of three little girls (this first book only involves Betsy and Tacy Tib moves into the neighborhood in the next book). I am not even sure that I can describe them. I had had much the same attitude, but finally decided to add them to the list of series to-be-read (for serious). I know that they were on Mom’s bookshelves growing up, but when I asked her the other day, she said that she had never read them she just collected them at booksales thinking that they looked like nice books. So the Betsy-Tacy books have been floating around my library my entire life.

(this edition illustrated by Lois Lenski) The Aroma of Books //Rants//Raves//Reviews// Pargeter, Edith (also writing as Ellis Peters).Mertz, Barbara (also writing as Elizabeth Peters and Barbara Michaels).Christie, Agatha (also writing as Mary Westmacott).Children’s History: Landmark, Signature Biographies, and We Were There.#BookSpin & #BookSpinBingo (Litsy Challenge).

Betsy tacy and tib book series