Reviews - Understood Betsy

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Understood Betsy by Dorothy Canfield Fisher

168 reviews for:

This is a book I read & loved as a child. I recently reread it to see if it held up to my childhood expectations (always a dangerous proposition). Luckily, I still loved the book as much as I did as a child. I love how Betsy was allowed to grow up and be independent. My childhood was just the opposite of her childhood while loved I was definitely not coddled.

delaneyjoyce's review against another edition

I don't remember exactly when I read this or if I ever finished it, but I know I had it hanging around for ages, and I have some distinct memories of certain passages. I think I need to hunt it down and read it for nostalgia' sake.

ashleysbooknook's review against another edition

5.0

Quick, easy read. A personal classic. Betsy’s growth and change was a pleasure to experience. It’s a happy story that I will soon share with my kids. I didn’t see how it would turn out happy and started to dread the ending, but it turned out oh so well and was so beautiful! Our family will read this again and again I’m sure!

jovvijo's review against another edition

5.0

Fantastic book of the joys of being a child allowed to blossom in a healthy loving home, and a good reminder that outdoors, exercise and adventure are what really make children thrive in a way that coddling and protecting never do.
This book is just a pleasure to read from first word to last so, unbelievably, I will say this:
I recommend it for everyone!
Possibly twice over for parents!

How long should i wait before i read it again?

beccah85's review against another edition

2.0

This has been on my TBR for quite a while and I am glad I finally read it. I was rather disappointed in the narrator constantly reminding me to pay attention. The characters were lovely and the story was nice but I was very annoyed and felt the author was preaching her philosophy too much. Let the story speak for itself, please.

anna_hepworth's review against another edition

4.0

This is an odd idyllic rural fantasy book of another time. Presumably written for children, it manages to not be particularly didactic about the benefits of children being independent and not afraid, and how being in the country can help with that. Also has the odd 'morality tale' buried in it, which I suspect to represent one take on Christian ethics (and these are done in a very loving, understated way; no overt moralising).

I'd recommend it for adults with an interest in children's books, but probably wouldn't have tried reading it to my offspring in the years that they were interested in having chapter books read to them. Because I've been reading it on an off, I don't have a clear memory as to whether there are explicitly problematic aspects. I feel, given the age of it, that there may well have been implicit issues.

Rating is higher than it would have been if this book has come out now -- I think that there has been a lot of change in the way that children's books are written, and this one comes across as a little naive. I probably would have loved it in mid-primary.