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thenovelbook's review against another edition
3.0
Loved the chapter on Betsy's first solo expedition downtown to the new library!
roseleaf24's review against another edition
5.0
I do not understand why these were not book's read over and over again as a kid. I think this one is my favorite so far. It was so interesting, how Deep Valley was a perfect "show town" on the way to Omaha, and so touching how Betsy felt Mrs. Poppy's lonesomeness.
frankiholmes's review against another edition
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
relaxing
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
ckausch's review against another edition
4.0
Full review at: http://dogearedandwellread.wordpress.com/2010/02/08/betsy-and-tacy-go-downtown-by-maud-hart-lovelace/
I enjoyed this Betsy-Tacy book immensely! Now that the girls are twelve, they are enjoying their freedom and learning more about themselves and other people...Maud Hart Lovelace had a real talent for writing the girls in a very honest way. They never act out of the ordinary for girls their age.
I enjoyed this Betsy-Tacy book immensely! Now that the girls are twelve, they are enjoying their freedom and learning more about themselves and other people...Maud Hart Lovelace had a real talent for writing the girls in a very honest way. They never act out of the ordinary for girls their age.
lily_beans06's review against another edition
funny
inspiring
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
lgpiper's review against another edition
4.0
Well, I never figured I'd read all of the first four Betsy-Tacy books, but I did. I've got to do a better job of choosing "adult"-style books and not keep coming up with crap, which is, of course, why I kept reverting to yet another dose of Betsy-Tacy. Perhaps it's all for the best. I rather liked my delving into Betsy-Tacy, although I might now suffer from a terminal case of heart warmedness.
So, Betsy, Tacy, and Tib are now 12 and are grown up enough to do things like go downtown on their own. After some difficulties, they make friends with another girl, Winona Root, who has tickets to a theater production of Uncle Tom's Cabin. They're all smitten. And now, for all practical purposes, the threesome becomes a foursome.
The first horseless carriage comes to town. Betsy has big plans to be a writer, but her mother thinks she needs a better class of literature to read than the paper backs she gets from the housemaid. So, she sends Betsy to the newly opened library every other week. It seems that some things never change. The librarian is, of course, awesome, and opens up a whole new world to Betsy.
Betsy makes friends of a lonely rich woman who lives in a hotel, and they plan a Christmas party to which all their friends will be invited. Later, she gets Betsy & Co. involved as extras with a traveling theater company, including Betsy's long lost Uncle Keith. And so forth. It's rather heart warming and also tells of life, albeit idealized, from a different time, e.g. 100+ years ago, shortly before my mother was a little girl.
I dunno, I never really expected to read any Betsy-Tacy, and now I've read four of them and liked them all. I find it weird that I keep reading how it is a children's classic, but I've yet to find anyone who has actually read any of the books growing up, and I have a lot of book-worm peers, and a couple of relatives who are librarians [ok, my librarian sister-in-law, whose mother was once president of the American Library Association, admits to having read them].
Also interesting to me is that the books describe kids' lives and activities at the turn of the 20th century. Other than some anachronisms, like horse-drawn carriages, the lives of the kids weren't much different from the lives of people like me in the 1950s. But, it's all different today. I'm not sure that's a good thing.
So, Betsy, Tacy, and Tib are now 12 and are grown up enough to do things like go downtown on their own. After some difficulties, they make friends with another girl, Winona Root, who has tickets to a theater production of Uncle Tom's Cabin. They're all smitten. And now, for all practical purposes, the threesome becomes a foursome.
The first horseless carriage comes to town. Betsy has big plans to be a writer, but her mother thinks she needs a better class of literature to read than the paper backs she gets from the housemaid. So, she sends Betsy to the newly opened library every other week. It seems that some things never change. The librarian is, of course, awesome, and opens up a whole new world to Betsy.
[Interestingly, the librarian in A Tree Grows in Brooklyn was not so awesome (the first one I've ever known not to be so). However, the presence of the library in her neighborhood opened up a whole new world to Francie Nolan. God bless public libraries.
I find it bizarre that so-called "conservatives" are now calling for defunding public libraries. I gather rich people aren't able to read, or something. Or perhaps all that money just turns people into assholes...but I digress. Sorry].
Betsy makes friends of a lonely rich woman who lives in a hotel, and they plan a Christmas party to which all their friends will be invited. Later, she gets Betsy & Co. involved as extras with a traveling theater company, including Betsy's long lost Uncle Keith. And so forth. It's rather heart warming and also tells of life, albeit idealized, from a different time, e.g. 100+ years ago, shortly before my mother was a little girl.
I dunno, I never really expected to read any Betsy-Tacy, and now I've read four of them and liked them all. I find it weird that I keep reading how it is a children's classic, but I've yet to find anyone who has actually read any of the books growing up, and I have a lot of book-worm peers, and a couple of relatives who are librarians [ok, my librarian sister-in-law, whose mother was once president of the American Library Association, admits to having read them].
Also interesting to me is that the books describe kids' lives and activities at the turn of the 20th century. Other than some anachronisms, like horse-drawn carriages, the lives of the kids weren't much different from the lives of people like me in the 1950s. But, it's all different today. I'm not sure that's a good thing.
doublearegee's review against another edition
4.0
Another Charlotte bedtime book. Betsy and Tacy are old favorites in our house. I think we'll save the books when they go to high school for a couple years, though.
evaseyler's review against another edition
5.0
This was one of my very favourite books when I was twelve. I'm not sure if that's just because that's when I got the book or because Betsy and her friends are also twelve in the book - I liked reading books about children who were my own age. I adored the theatrical thread running throughout the book, the section on Christmas that seemed to bottle up all I felt about Christmas so beautifully, and most of all Winona.
I have no idea what it is about Winona that I like so much, except that perhaps she reminds me of myself. I've been a manipulator, have been known to love messing with people's heads, and have a strange sense of humour. I'm a pretty good blend of Betsy and Winona, and I was sad on glancing through later books at the library back in the day that Winona seems to mostly fade out of the picture after this book.
I'm thinking this book influenced me a good deal too in my own writing. Betsy's tendency toward DRAMA and using things she's fangirling over in her stories sounds ridiculously familiar. Just the other day I found an entry in an old diary where I described a story within another story I was writing, involving a whole myriad of drama and crime. It wasn't a good or healthy thing to be obsessing over, by any means. I guess the part in this book about sticking to GOOD books rather than dime novels was over my head?
I have no idea what it is about Winona that I like so much, except that perhaps she reminds me of myself. I've been a manipulator, have been known to love messing with people's heads, and have a strange sense of humour. I'm a pretty good blend of Betsy and Winona, and I was sad on glancing through later books at the library back in the day that Winona seems to mostly fade out of the picture after this book.
I'm thinking this book influenced me a good deal too in my own writing. Betsy's tendency toward DRAMA and using things she's fangirling over in her stories sounds ridiculously familiar. Just the other day I found an entry in an old diary where I described a story within another story I was writing, involving a whole myriad of drama and crime. It wasn't a good or healthy thing to be obsessing over, by any means. I guess the part in this book about sticking to GOOD books rather than dime novels was over my head?