Thank goodness Harper has brought this Maud Hart Lovelace gem back into print! This book offers a glimpse of Betsy Ray's friend Winona Root at age 7, planning her 8th birthday party. Winona is such an outgoing girl that the guest list just keeps growing, and there is much merriment involved. Adult readers will be delighted to discover Winona at an early age, and I am reading this new editon aloud to my three year old niece who keeps begging for another look at all the Vera Neville illustrations.

After many years, I finally tracked down a library copy of "Winona's Pony Cart," and I am glad to have read it. It's a nice look at Winona's home life at the age of 8, when the "main" characters haven't really encountered Winona yet. What a riot of a character she is! I've always liked her character in the rest of the series, so I was happy to get a peek into her life, meeting her sisters and parents. And she really is kind of a funny character, all on her own. I hope this book comes back into print eventually, I would buy several copies!

When Maud Hart Lovelace first wrote the "Betsy-Tacy" series, did she know how much so many people, from children to adults, would love them? The series has at least one book that anyone of any age can relate to. 10-year-olds will love "Over the big Hill," high-schoolers will love the books about when Betsy was attending Deep Valley High, etc. And it doesn't end there! Even if you're not the age that Betsy was in one of the books, you can still love all of them! Maud has a way of capturing real feelings and experiences--even bad ones--and turning them into works of art. The "Betsy-Tacy" series really is a work of art, even if it was painted with a pen, and not a paintbrush.

I bought this book for two french childs to test american literature with young non-english-spoken childs. I must admit I read it before. It's out of time and pleasant for anyone. But it's readable for any child around the planet.

When Maud Hart Lovelace first wrote the "Betsy-Tacy" series, did she know how much so many people, from children to adults, would love them? The series has at least one book that anyone of any age can relate to. 10-year-olds will love "Over the big Hill," high-schoolers will love the books about when Betsy was attending Deep Valley High, etc. And it doesn't end there! Even if you're not the age that Betsy was in one of the books, you can still love all of them! Maud has a way of capturing real feelings and experiences--even bad ones--and turning them into works of art. The "Betsy-Tacy" series really is a work of art, even if it was painted with a pen, not a paintbrush.

This is my personal favorite of the Betsy-Tacy series (although picking a favorite is akin to naming your favorite child). It chronicles a pivotal year for Betsy, Tacy and Tib, when they finally have "two numbers in their age". Betsy prophesizes that their tenth year marks the beginning of great things for the trio, like falling in love and traveling the world.

Providentially, the handsome young Alphonso the Thirteenth is crowned King of Spain, giving the girls a convenient target for their first crush. While busily writing a love letter to their idol, the three stumble upon a colony of Syrian immigrants, who aren't always treated so well by their neighbors in Deep Valley. Betsy, Tacy and Tib proceed to make many new friends and learn a few lessons about prejudice and the American dream in the process.

MHL's gift for weaving together uplifting moral lessons with high-spirited adventure makes this a truly special book. She always somehow manages to get across a spiritual message without being heavy-handed, sentimental, or pedantic. Above all, her books are great fun and a pleasure to read.

as a young girl i loved the "betsy" books and it was a pleasure to pass them along to my daughter. only last night we discussed the books - she's introducing her fourth grade daughter to them this spring. the series is timeless and i love every book !

As a child growing up, I was an avid reader. I began reading the "Betsy-Tacy" books when the school librarian introduced me to the series. This is a wonderful series showing the life of the main chracter, Betsy. I can remember devouring each of the books. Now that I am a teacher and a mother, I can't wait to find and purchase the books for my daughter and my classroom library. In today's society of technology and media, this is a wonderful collection of old fashioned, classic stories.

This book is a must read for anyone familiar with Lebanese/Syrian immigrants to the US in the last 100 years.

The characters and customs in the book are so much like the people and things I remember as a child.

If you are of Lebanese/Syrian descent, you should read this book to your children/grandchildren. It's a great way to keep the values and customs alive of our parents and grandparents.

Although I read and reread all of the author's Betsy-Tacy books as a child, I had never heard of "The trees kneel at Christmas" until it was rescued and rereleased by Abdo and Daughters several years ago.

The story was inspired by a legend the author heard from a Lebanese immigrant woman while living in New York. She kept the legend -- that the cedar trees in Lebanon kneel down at midnight on Christmas Eve -- in her mind for quite some time, until a visit to a local school matched the face of a young girl with the story.

The story is told quite simply and timelessly. Young Afify hears the legend of the kneeling cedars from her grandmother and wonders if the trees kneel in Brooklyn, too. The remainder of the story follows her as she sets out in search of a miracle.

I got this book on a whim, just because I love the Betsy-Tacy books, and figured that since those are autobiographical, then this would be what "Betsy" would have written. It is a good book- it tells the story of a misguided but sweet young man from England who jouneys to America to make a new life for himself. He encounters two extremely gothic characters who give the book an interesting twist, and has a passionate love affair. Through all his mishaps and passions, he finally discovers himself- and happiness- in a transported world of foxhunts, balls, and estates that must soon conform to new customs or perish. If you like the Betsy books, you will probably like this- it is an adult book, but still captures the youthful spirit and vibrance of the Betsy series. Lovelace writes with heart, taking the reader into her world.

This is a beautiful story about a little girl, Annie Jo, who lives among a family of birds while she is temporarily separated from her own parents. A very poetic book accompanied by lovely illustrations. It's a perfect story to read on a warm summer's night just before you go to sleep.

It is a constant source of mystery to me why the publishers of out-of-print MHL books don't reprint them immediately. It's not as though they can argue that there's not a big market for them. HarperCollins, do the reading public (and your own profit margin) a favor: REISSUE THIS BOOK!!!

I'm going to be put in the doghouse for saying this, but what kind of weird book is "Betsy, In Spite of Herself?"

When I was younger, I loved the Betsy-Tacy books, about when the two were little girls, but recently, when I read this one I just cringed! Betsy, the sweet imaginative child, has turned into a flirt as she enters high school--and her sister Julia is far worse. This was a big disappointment. I truly pity Tacy, having to put up with Betsy.

Oh, Tacy...remember her? (She doesn't have a major role in this book.)

I would still recommend this to the Betsy-Tacy fans however, just to complete your collection.

Growing up a child of the 70s, I read all the Betsey-Tacey books over and over again. I found this one when I was just entering Junior High school. I was so excited to find she grew up too, and had adventures with BOYS (but just as pals, of course!). Reading it, I was gratefully lost in her world. I think this series is highly under-read today, as I find many youngsters have not heard of them. But they are truly one of the best series for children I've ever found.

No more than a year ago my best friend, Tacye, introduced me to this wonderful series. For a book to read on Friday night I bought Betsy In Spite of Herself. Two sentences got be hooked on the series for good. When Betsy said, "Where is romance? Is it in these unwritten pages?" I was a gonner. I'd fallen in love with two sentences. But, if the sentences are by Maud Hart Lovelace isn't that reason enough to fall? Betsy In Spite of Herself is a lovely story about issues that we deal with still 80 years later. I loved when Betsy took her trip to Milwaukee. Tib was so much fun to read about! Most of all I loved the chapters where Betsy turns from Betsy to Betsye to Betsye to Betsy. Now you have to read it! Go on! It great!

There is something about the Betsy-Tacy series that always fills my heart with warmth. Betsy and the Great World is no exception. At twenty-one, Betsy is on the verge of a great adventure. She embarks on a tour of Europe - when Europe was a new horizon for a young writer to see. Betsy soon discovers that she is growing up (she is courted by a dashing Italian during her trip abroad), but she can not forget her beloved Joe. Read this book and the rest of the series. They will take you back to a time when things were simpler.

I have never been to Europe, so reading "Betsy and the Great World" was a fun way to experience Europe through someone else's eyes. I read all the Betsy-Tacy books, and though I definitely felt the absence of Tacy and the Crowd in this book, it was interesting to watch Betsy's development and growth during her year abroad. Her independence and spunk even away from home are amazing to behold, yet at times she gets homesick just as anyone would, so her experiences are not unrealistic. I think this book shows a very important time of growth in Betsy's life. If you are a fan of the Betsy-Tacy books, this one is not to be missed. "Down to Gehenna or up to the throne, he travels the fastest who travels alone..."

I was brought up on Betsy-Tacy, but just recently read the last two books in the series. This book is great at describing the feelings and evolution of a girl becoming independent. The beginning and ending are both excellent, with the detailed description of her experience in college providing a good bridge from the high school books. I love her romance with Joe, the recurring appearance of the famous writer, Ms. Whitaker, and the depiction of England at the very start of the war.

I ordered this book thinking it might be a nice addition to my Betsy-Tacy set, and for the most part I was right. But I was disappointed at how skimpy the book was, considering how much research must have gone into its writing. The pictures and the newspaper excerpts must have taken a fair amount of work to find, but the book never talked about any of the research that Dolnick did.

It is nice to see how the book characters represented real people in Lovelace's life in the Cities. And it was pretty neat to see what they actually looked like...since children's illustrations are generally a bit fictionalized.

This book is a nice addition for B-T fans, but very few other people would really understand this book's purpose.

Fans of Maud Hart Lovelace will find this little book, published by the Betsy-Tacy Society, delightful in giving details of Maud's young married life (the period that parallels "Betsy's Wedding"). Amy Dolben supplies details of Maud and Delos Lovelace's meeting, courtship, and young married years in Minneapolis, with photographs of the sites (both those still standing and those which have been razed). Pilgrims who are tracing Maud's and Betsy's footsteps in Minneapolis will find the book indispensable, and those who cannot make the pilgrimage in person will also enjoy the book.

Warning: "Between Deep Valley and the Great World" is very short (no page numbers) and will leave the insatiable hunger of MHL fans for details not fully satisfied. It contains information and photos not published in any other book. Enjoy!

I thought this was a great book--to start with. It wasn't very deatiled, but gave a broad overview of Maud and her life, family, friends, etc. It only took a few hours to go through--thoroughly--so checking it out at the library mught be a better choice than just buying it. Definitiely for younger kids--not really at the adult reading level, but for people reading the books for the first time, or just finished--10 year olds.