Betsy-Tacy Convention 2025, Part 3

Breakfast in the Banquet Hall followed my quick trip to Mass at St. Peters and Paul Catholic Church (this is not Tacy’s church, which I attended on previous visits but the timing worked out better) with my friend Ethel. I was registered to go on the First Presbyterian Church Christian Endeavor tour, service, and Welsh snacks but had not slept well and somehow stayed to do Pub Trivia led by Michelle Giorlando instead. Our team, the Ladybugs, consisted of Deb, Ethel, and me, and we were in the middle of the pack in skill, alas.

The Blue Earth County Courthouse
where Mr. Hart worked when County Treasurer

Six Degrees of Separation - from All Fours to The Wonder Test

It’s time for #6degrees, inspired by Kate at Books Are My Favourite and Best. We all start at the same place as other readers, add six books, and see where it ends up. This month’s starting point is All Fours by Miranda July (2024).

My July 2024 Reading

My two favorite books this month were Mrs. Plansky's Revenge by Spencer Quinn and Small Mercies by Dennis Lehane - one light-hearted and amusing and the other dark and compelling - both memorable.  

Mystery/Suspense

The Risk of Darkness by Susan Hill (2006). I really liked the first two Simon Serrallier books I read in June so read three more in July – compelling police procedurals set in a small cathedral town with a lot about Simon’s family as part of the plot, which adds to their appeal, in my opinion.

Six Degrees of Separation – From Frommer's New England to Charlotte's Web

It’s time for #6degrees, inspired by Kate at Books Are My Favourite and Best. We all start at the same place as other readers, add six books, and see where you end up. This month’s starting point is any travel guide from our bookshelves. I used to work for the publisher of Frommer’s Travel Guides and happened to pull down Frommer’s New England the other day for a friend who was visiting Salem (when you work for a travel publisher, you collect a copy of every book/location you think you might visit or need as a reference in the future).

Six Degrees of Separation – from Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow to Death of a Harvard Freshman

It’s time for #6degrees, inspired by Kate at Books Are My Favourite and Best. We all start at the same place, add six books, and see where we end up. This month’s starting point is Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin (2022),  about friends who create a gaming company while at Harvard and MIT.  I really enjoyed this book (although found it very sad) and for about a month after I read it, I kept urging it on other people.

Betsy-Tacy by Maud Hart Lovelace – for the #1940Club

Title: Betsy-Tacy
Author: Maud Hart Lovelace
Publication: Thomas Y. Crowell, hardcover, 1940
Genre: Juvenile historical fiction
Setting: 1900s Deep Valley, Minnesota

This week, Karen of Kaggsy’s Bookish Ramblings and Simon of Stuck in a Book hosted the 1940 Club in which we all read and write about books published that year.  Naturally, I could not ignore a book by one of my favorite authors, however many times I may have read it.

The Innocents from Indiana, a memoir by Emily Kimbrough

Title: The Innocents from Indiana
Author: Emily Kimbrough
Illustrator: Alice Harvey
Publication: Harper & Brothers, hardcover, 1950
Genre: Memoir
Setting: Pre-WWI Chicago

Description: When Emily was 11 and her brother 4, their family moved from Muncie, Indiana to Chicago.

Mystery on the Isle of Skye by Phyllis A. Whitney

Title: Mystery on the Isle of Skye
Author: Phyllis Whitney
Illustrator: Ezra Jack Keats
Publication: The Westminster Press, hardcover, 1954
Genre: Juvenile Mystery
Setting: Scotland

Description: When a serious illness sends her beloved Grandmother MacLeod to the hospital, Cathy finds herself on the trip of a lifetime to the Isle of Skye with relatives she barely knows – her mother’s brother Jerry, his wife Lila, and two cousins, Don and Punch. Mrs. MacLeod came from Skye and, despite her illness, managed to organize a box of messages and surprises for Cathy to open periodically on her trip, which will help her explore her Scotch heritage and make friends with her cousins.

#1956Club Knight's Castle by Edward Eager (because we all think Ivanhoe should have wound up with Rebecca)

I decided to share an old favorite for my last entry in Simon and Karen's #1956 Club.

Title: Knight’s Castle
Author: Edward Eager
Illustrator: N.M. Bodecker
Publication: Harcourt, Brace & World, hardcover, 1956
Genre: Children’s fantasy

Description: This follows Magic by the Lake and is about the offspring of the children in Eager’s best-known book, Half Magic.   Roger and Ann, visiting their cousins in Baltimore while their father is in the hospital, are taken to see the Elizabeth Taylor movie of Ivanhoe and are enthralled.   They start reenacting Ivanhoe with the castle Aunt Katharine gives Roger and new soldiers from their Uncle Mark, and then at night the soldiers come to life and they find themselves back in the days of Ivanhoe and Bad King John . . .  with complications resulting from lead soldiers, oversized dolls, and difficult cousins.

(Concluding) Betsy and Tacy Go Downtown, Chapter 13 and 14

Chapter 13      Rip Van Winkle

Naturally, the girls are very excited on the day of the performance for their stage debut.  The trio walks to Winona’s house and Mr. Root drives them downtown in his cutter.   Tib made daily visits to the Melborn Hotel to be coached by Mrs. Poppy (how does she know the part so well?) and since then has been rehearsing with the cast.  Surprisingly, Tib is not a “quick study” but once she learns something she is completely confident without no stage fright.   The girls are told they will cling to the coat-tails of the actor playing Rip.

Betsy and Tacy Go Downtown, Chapter 12

Three phone calls take over the Ray household in this chapter!   First, Jerry who does not spend enough time at Cox Military to justify all that private school tuition, calls Julia to tell her a play of Rip Van Winkle is coming to town and he would like to take her.   Mrs. Ray gives permission, having seen a production herself once.   Betsy, not wanting to be left out, says she should go ask Winona immediately if she can get comps again.  Mrs. Ray starts telling everyone the Rip Van Winkle story and I am sure I am not alone in wishing it were something more fun like Peter Pan or Gilbert & Sullivan.  However, it is 1905 and most of our favorites haven’t been written yet!   Next, Winona calls, having also heard the news, and invites Betsy, Tacy and Tib to go with.   Betsy rushes across the street to tell Tacy, and they both run to Tib’s to tell her, and then all three rush to Winona’s because they are so excited.  It makes one wish all one's friends lived nearby!

Betsy and Tacy Go Downtown, Chapter 11

Chapter 11, Mrs. Poppy’s Party

Preparing for Christmas is big in the Ray household and there are many secrets in the mix.  Everyone is waiting to see Margaret’s face when she gets a talking doll on Christmas morning.  In addition to her new English bob, she has big eyes in a serious face.  The long black lashes seemed not so much to shade them as to make them bigger and brighter (foreshadowing!).  The Rays trim the tree on Christmas Eve just like my family.   Betsy hangs her new red ball.  They add strings of popcorn and cranberries.  Finally, the candles are lighted.  Bits of live flame danced all over the tree, and it’s a Christmas miracle that the house doesn’t burn down.  They read Dickens’ A Christmas Carol.

The next day there are stockings and gifts and the first appearance of joke presents.  Betsy got one of her own much-chewed pencils “With Sympathy from William Shakespeare.”  Betsy receives a copy of Little Men.  It is a happy day, and there is no post-Christmas letdown because the following day is Mrs. Poppy’s party.

Betsy and Tacy Go Downtown, Chapter 10

Chapter 10, Christmas Shopping

Wondering about her story, Flossie’s Accident (which I keep wanting to call Flossie’s Head – I think that must be how it has been colloquially discussed over the years), Betsy asks her father how long it takes a letter to go to Philadelphia.   He says two or three days.   Except that Betsy waits and waits and The Ladies Home Journal does not send her $100.  Julia is curious about who Betsy knows in Philadelphia.  As an older sister, I know that feeling of wondering what on earth your sibling is up to now!

“The King of Spain maybe,” said her father.  He was teasing.  For when Betsy, Tacy and Tib were only ten years old and didn’t know any better, they had written a letter to the King of Spain.  They had received an answer, too.

Betsy and Tacy Go Downtown, Chapters 8 and 9

Chapter 8, Mrs. Poppy

Betsy is thoroughly enjoying her adventure at the Melborn Hotel, as is her rescuer, Mrs. Poppy, who telephones Mr. Ray for permission so Betsy can stay.  “There’s time for a real party,” she tells Betsy and asks if she would like to take the elevator or the stairs.  Betsy hesitates although not for my usual reason of a reproachful faux-Fitbit.   She has never ridden in an elevator but the grand staircase of the Melborn Hotel is very impressive!  “The stairs,” she said.  “And the elevator coming down.”  They pass a statue of the Winged Victory as they ascend.  Headless.  Mrs. Poppy explains that it is Greek.   Betsy takes it in stride, feeling well prepared by her Greek mythology reading earlier in the day.

 

At the top of the stairs is the hotel’s two-story dining room, overlooking the river.  This is where Deep Valley’s elegant dances with orchestras take place (foreshadowing!).  Mrs. Poppy asks a maid for hot chocolate but they continue to her private apartment which has parlor, den, bedroom and bathroom but no kitchen or dining room as the Poppys dine in the hotel dining room or have food delivered.    Betsy notices a small rocking chair with a doll in it.  When she asks if the doll belonged to Mrs. Poppy as a child, Mrs. Poppy tells Betsy it belonged to her daughter who died.  Betsy feels sad but doesn’t know how to respond.  Mrs. Poppy explains that is why she enjoys other people’s children and asks Betsy about Tacy and Tib.  Betsy guesses from what Mrs. Poppy says that she is lonesome.  Mrs. Poppy admits it is hard to make friends, living in a hotel.   She gave up her career in musical comedy to marry Mr. Poppy.

Betsy and Tacy Go Downtown, Chapters 6 and 7

Chapter 6, Betsy’s Desk

Now that she has been to the theatre to see Uncle Tom's Cabin, Betsy is curious about her actor uncle.  Mrs. Ray clearly misses her brother very much since he ran away from home.   She describes how he looked like her with red wavy hair and had Julia’s skill with singing and piano but also wrote stories like Betsy.  Betsy absorbs every word.

Betsy-Tacy Go Downtown, Chapters 3 - 5

Chapter 3 and 4     Winona’s Tickets, More About Winona's Tickets

When Betsy, Tacy and Tib finish bragging about Tib’s adventure, they begin to plot to persuade Winona to invite them to the show.  They consider a bribe but then Tacy has a better idea – they should hypnotize her!

“Take us to Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Take us.  Take us.  Take us,” they intone silently from all directions during the school day.  Winona is slightly unnerved by their glassy stares and their teacher.   The trio’s teacher scolds them for not facing front and doesn’t understand why Tib won’t describe her exciting horseless carriage experience but Tib realized that might hurt their cause with Winona.  In fact, Winona says loudly that she won’t take people who stare at her! The girls drop that plan but hypnosis continues to appeal to certain Betsy-Tacy fans in the Pacific Northwest when needed.

 

Betsy is yearning for Uncle Tom’s Cabin but nobly she does not ask her father to get her a ticket because she knows that wouldn’t help Tacy.   Her longing was a little like what she felt when she saw rows and rows of books in other people’s bookcases (she had read all the books in the bookcase at home).  Kindred meet spirit!  Not that I will ever finish all the books at my home!

Betsy and Tacy Go Downtown, Chapters 1 and 2

Betsy and Tacy Go Downtown by Maud Hart Lovelace is the fourth Betsy-Tacy book, set in 1904-05 and published in 1943.  The girls are now 12 years old and in the seventh grade. 

It is time for Betsy, Tacy and Tib’s world to be expanded in another direction.  The trio is now 12.  When Downtown opens, Betsy is in her beloved maple tree from which she can see the town of Deep Valley, Minnesota.   She sees four places that MHL knows will be important to her (and to us!), “the Opera House, the Melborn Hotel, the skeleton of the new Carnegie Library, and the high school that her sister Julia and Tacy’s sister Katie attended.”  She is aware of a world unexplored.  

 

Betsy has one of the notebooks from her father’s shoe store and is working on a dramatic-sounding story, The Repentance of Lady Clinton by Betsy Warrington Ray.*   Even before Tacy appears to reveal that her father found their borrowed copy of Lady Audley’s Secret and threw it in the fire.

“He said it was trash.”

“Trash!” cried Betsy.  “I’m trying to write books just like it.”

Myself When Young by Daphne du Maurier #DDMreadingweek

Title: Myself When Young: The Shaping of a Writer
Author:  Daphne du Maurier
Publication:  Arrow Books, paperback, 1993 (originally published in 1977)
Genre: Nonfiction/Memoir
Occasion: Daphne du Maurier Reading Week

Plot: You probably know her as the author of Rebecca but du Maurier (1907 – 1989) wrote several other bestselling books that are equally memorable.  She came from a talented artistic family.  Her father was a famous actor, Sir Gerald du Maurier and her mother, Muriel Beaumont, an actress who met him in a play. Her grandfather was a well-known cartoonist for Punch, a popular humor magazine, and writer, French-born George du Maurier. He is best known for creating the character Svengali that became a catch-phrase for a coercive influence on someone.  Daphne was educated primarily at home before being “finished” in France, in the kind of family that summoned the children to say hello to guests briefly before sending them to the nursery with Nanny. Although not part of the nobility, the du Mauriers clearly mixed with all the right people due to Sir Gerald’s prominence.  Her upbringing seems fairly typical for an upper-middle-class British family but the drive and passion that developed in this shy young woman was all Daphne’s own.

Virtual Advent Calendar

Thank you to Sprite Writes for including me in the Virtual Advent Tour she has organized for four years. For those who don’t know, Advent is a liturgical season leading up to Christmas which includes the four preceding Sundays. Growing up, my family often had an advent wreath with pink and purple candles which we loved lighting before dinner.

Katherine reads the enclosed note to Winona

As an adult, my favorite holiday tradition is the Betsy-Tacy ornament exchange. Every year, the fans of Maud Hart Lovelace’s beloved Betsy-Tacy series, set in turn of the century Minnesota, participate in secret ornament exchange to honor a Christmas shopping expedition our heroines made in 1903 or so with their friend Winona Root:

There on a long table Christmas tree ornaments were set out for sale.  There were boxes and boxes full of them, their colors mingling in bewildering iridescence.  There were large fragile balls of vivid hues, there were gold and silver balls; there were tinsel angels, shining harps and trumpets, gleaming stars.

“Here,” said Betsy, “here we buy.”She looked at Winona, bright-eyed, and Winona looked from her to the resplendent table.“Nothing,” Tacy tried to explain, “is so much like Christmas as a Christmas-tree ornament.” “You get a lot for ten cents,” said Tib. 

Betsy-Tacy Convention, Day 3

All too soon, it was Sunday morning.  Josephine had allowed us to sleep a little later but everyone had started gathering in the lobby. Beyond Domestic Science: Recipes from Betsy-Tacy, and some were mainlining caffeine.  This was a morning that showcased the NewBetsys, including Barb Fecteau as Mistress of Ceremonies!  were finally picking up their soon-to-be treasured copy of the new Betsy-Tacy cookbook.

Josephine Wolff and her mother, Perri Klass (both NewBetsys currently living in New York State), began the morning with a presentation entitled: “Stories About Girls Who Want Curly Hair for Girls Who Want Straight Hair.” This was based on the premise that they, both curly-haired, had been afflicted their whole lives (I started to say they had suffered in silence but I suspect they'd agree neither one is – exactly – silent). They moved on to share both the history of curling appurtenances, incidents we all know well (think: Jo/Meg/sizzle), and the many (mostly hilarious) quotes surrounding Betsy and her hair. Laughter and applause accompanied their delivery. I am still thinking about some of those old-fashioned curling irons which look like something a medieval dentist would use. As my mother has been known to say, “Don’t yearn for time travel: in books the heroine may end up as a member of the aristocracy but it’s more likely you’d be a scullery maid living in an era without Novocain!”

Heather described her "recruitment"

Next up was Heather Vogel Frederick, author of The Mother-Daughter Book Club series and other books, who grew up in Massachusetts, attended college in the Midwest, and lived in Oregon for years before we NewBetsys reclaimed her. Heather told the story about how she became a Betsy-Tacy fan, which gets funnier every time I hear it. As many good stories begin, she was minding her own business, busy promoting her book when Things Started Happening. First, a former listren in the Midwest urged her to read BT and BTT. Then, Heather happened to be speaking at a librarian conference in Portland where she was dangerously close to several of our more spontaneous Betsy-Fans. They accosted the unsuspecting Heather, anxious to persuade her to have her Mother-Daughter Book Club characters read Betsy-Tacy! This was obviously a good idea but might never have come to pass if Heather’s enlightened husband hadn’t urged her to accept an invitation to dinner from our own Radhika. I believe they withheld dessert until Heather agreed to read the whole series. She began to like the crazy women who were holding her hostage (Heather, this is known as the Stockholm Syndrome) although if she really liked them as much as she claimed, I don’t think she would have moved East, do you? Now she is a real member of what my sisters call “your cult” and we are delighted to have her (especially because she has more dignity than the average NewBetsy, and it might rub off on us, or not – see below, reading Forever in the hot tub). Heather interspersed her presentation with letters she has received from fans, some of whom now love Maud Hart Lovelace as well as Dear Mrs. Frederick.