Betsy Bliss

Book review: Betsy and the Great World by Maud Hart Lovelace

I didn't know about the Betsy-Tacy series as a child, but I'm so glad to have found it as an adult. Once introduced, I got as far as Betsy and Joe, book 8 of 10. At that time the series was out of print*, and to my dismay, my library only carries the first 6. Used copies proved to be too expensive. So there I was, stalled. I managed to "look inside" at the first 2 pages on amazon.com. My waiting finally ended this fall, when Harper brought out the last 6 books in Perennial Classic editions. I think it makes sense to put them in editions for the adult market. My slight regret is that they aren't matchy-match with books 1 through 8 already on my shelf.

Maud Hart Lovelace, recounting her own life story via the fictional Betsy, depicted the outbreak of World War I as she experienced it. Betsy's year in Europe comes to an abrupt end, fraught with the worry that she may be stranded across the ocean from her family and friends. Rather than the omniscient, analytical angle that a history book gives, Betsy's experience is from the angle of "a man on the street". Betsy and her friends watch as the political dominoes fall that summer, but wonder why it must add up to war. Seeing it from their point of view, I felt the same way. I would like to learn more about the Great War.

I'm going to wait a while before reading Betsy's Wedding, the second half in my Harper's Perennial Classics edition. It'll be my last Betsy book, and I want to savor the experience as long as I can! After that, I can occupy myself by compiling a Betsy-Tacy Songbook. What would the Maud Hart Lovelace Society think of that?

*HarperCollins has let the later books in the series go out of print, rather like clockwork, twice in the last 15 years. Fodder for another blog post.