BIG HILL - chapters 4-6

Chapter 4 – NAIFI

 So when the lunch basket disappears, the first though the immortal trio has is the villains – Julia and Katie. They are morose, thinking about the teasing. There is some lovely writing here -

“It would sound queer, said out loud and in public, that they were in love with the King of Spain.”

“Betsy very seldom said “Gee whiz!” She was too religious.” and “The sooner we don't see them the better.”

The great goat chase is on. They realize it was an animal who stole lunch and they go after it. Mostly Tib, natch.

But they are stopped short when Tib bumps into “a little girl so strange that she seemed to have stepped out of one of Betsy's stories.” She is dressed like a grown woman, but is a girl like them. She is talking in a language they don't understand and she is very obviously upset at the goat's behavior. “She is the excitedest person I ever saw,” says Betsy. They try to assure her that they aren't fussed about the lunch – which has been scattered across the grass.

They decide to invite her to their picnic. There is a bit about the importance of picnics and then they commence to eat. The little girl joins them and she has pita and cheese of her own. They start teaching each other words in English [1] and whatever language the little girl speaks.

The pictures for this chapter show a running goat, a naughty goat and a welcoming picnic - all lovely.

They share some words and then their names. She is Naifi. But it gets late and everyone has to head home. They talk about Naifi as they head home and it is only when they see their newspapers blowing around that they realize that their letter is gone. They fear that Julia and Katie might find the letter and make their lives a misery. It can NOT just be worry. Those older girls are a pain. I will fight anyone who says otherwise. Middle sisters forever!!

They decide to keep Naifi a secret and Tib says okay, but she wants to lose the underpants pictures of the king. Betsy and Tacy acquiesce, but tell Tib that they aren't done with trying to make her a queen.

They all head home. The picture of the Ray kitchen is the most Julia picture ever! She is practicing her piece and she is SO the center of attention in this pic. She lives for the spotlight. She is talking about being “Queen of the May” - hmmmm... I wonder what that is?

Chapter 5 – THE SCHOOL ENTERTAINMENT

Tib - Marjorie Gerlach in the baby dance dress!
Accordion sold separately.

There is a school entertainment coming and everyone is excited. Maud compares Julia and Katie's personal senses of anticipation. Julia is thrilled! “Her feet loved a platform as Betsy's loved a grassy hill.” I would make some snarky attention-whore comment here, but I have just finished the book (for the first time in ages) a few minutes ago and am in love with Julia once again. I will try very hard to regain my level of scorn once we get into chapter 6. (Spoiler – it's called “A Quarrel.” Can you guess who ruins everything with her sense of big-sister entitlement? Oh, I bet you can.)

Katie, on the other hand, despised performing. But she is a reliable memorizer and a smart cookie, so she finds herself obligated to perform The Gettysburg Address.

THE CAT DUET!! THE CAT DUET!! Here we have the dramatic unveiling of the cat duet – complete with Betsy climbing up from the alto line to join Tacy. No matter – they are adorable and it is a classic routine that will bring joy to Deep Valley for at least 5 more books. Tib will bring the Baby Dance, complete with the death defying Russian step which is done from a squatting position. As someone who is attending physical therapy to learn how to squat again (WHY? Can't I just plan to live a squat-free life from here on out?) this seems unbelievably risky.

Fashion Alert – Tib's Baby Dance dress is described in glorious detail. I have read it, seen pictures of it and still couldn't describe it other than “accordian pleated” which I am 99.6% sure doesn't mean that she can play La Vie en Rose with it. But I could be wrong. It is awfully skippy though. So much so that Mrs. Mueller loans Tib her Opera Cape. This glorious garment is made of black lace trimmed with ribbons and rosebuds. Real rosebuds? I imagine not. But I could be wrong. Man, the clothes in Betsy-Tacy, they get described a lot... [2]

Off they go – the school is on high alert for the Mothers are coming! Miss Dooley, grade 4 teacher, is dressed to the nines and looks tense. There is no more joyful time for an educator than when the parents come to school. I know it well.

“Position! Rise! Turn! March!” When I would read books about pre-1970s school, I though the marching that was mentioned was special occasion kind of stuff. [3] I didn't realize that in many schools, that was how students changed classes – in quiet orderly lines. Trust me when I say, that is no longer the case.

The program begins with Men of Harlach which probably sounded not very much like this - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DRtnWVvDX6k

Julia is up next. She kills. “She smiled and yet she seemed ready to cry.” Betsy overhears someone say, “That child is certainly going to be an actress,” and she is embarrassed and proud. Then some no-name talent and shortly up – Katie.

The paragraph about Katie's performance is comedy gold. I know you've read it, so I won't type it verbatim but it ends with, “When she had to take bad medicine, Katie knew how to take it.” That is worth embroidering on a sampler. More kids after Katie and them Tom plays the violin. He's probably up there thinking he's going to steal the show, pitying the act that has to follow him. But no. Betsy and Tacy bring down the house with the Cat Duet.

I love the way Mrs. Ray is playing the piano in the picture with her head turned completely to watch the girls. If that isn't motherly multitasking, I don't know what is.

Here's a cute version of the Cat Duet for the uninitiated - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DMngXo9B_Vg Miss Dooley says that they will have to sing it again next year. And Maud assures us that they do it until Betsy and Joe... I mean until they graduate from high school.

Tib closes the show with the Baby Dance. It is magnificent! She gets a curtain call. She's a natural. You can see her charm in the illustration at the beginning of the chapter. On the way home Betsy and Tacy offer to carry The Opera Cape so that she can show off those snazzy pleats. Tib thinks it's funny because to have them waiting on her because usually, she says, “I wait on you.” Which is such a Tib thing to say. [4]

As they walk home, they hear some concerning noise. Someone is being teased. They hear boys dressed in their good clothes behaving very badly. Nicely put, Maud! When they see who is being tormented, they are shocked! It is their new friend Naifi being tormented by horrible boys! How dare they?? The picture is really evocative. Those boys look wretched and Naifi is terrified. There are the girls on the sidelines, but not for long. Tib is already making a fist and is ready to rumble.

Tacy, shy shy Tacy starts yelling! But there is no response other than some teasing. But there goes Tib against these giant inbred boys! She pushes Sam, he pushes back. And the accordion pleated dress rips! Tib doesn't even care, she is in the zone – she breaks through the circle and tries to get Naifi out. 

Betsy recognizes her friends' bravery and drops the Cat costumes to join in. This distracts Sam enough for Naifi to run away. Now he is acting the fool with the costumes and some of his gang start to look ashamed. But another bonehead is promenading in the Opera Cape.

Betsy and Tacy almost start crying until they remember they are 10. Not to point fingers here, but Tib is the one with the ripped dress and defiled Opera Cape and she is not even considering crying. Tib is a boss. But things are looking dire. But not for long! Julia and Katie storm in. Julia shouts, “Leave my little sister alone!” Katie issues orders and they are obeyed. Everybody minds Katie. It's the law.

The bigs offer to go to Muellers' with the trio to explain what happened. Now that the fight is over, Tib is taking in the damage and she is downcast. Never fear, little Tiblet, your mother is proud of you! Mrs. Mueller has a speech about how it is important to appreciate newcomers and we (nearly) all come from someplace else back in our family history. [5] She assures Tib that the dress can be fixed. Betsy and Tacy are relieved – Tib's future Queen-hood is mostly based on wardrobe. And they are determined she will be some sort of Queen.

All is well in Deep Valley. Everyone is getting along fine. (Except Sam and his buddies. They'll live lives of misery and die alone) Yep, it's just friendship and sisterly affection from here on out. I'm almost sure...

Chapter 6 – A QUARREL

There are some haughty looking gals in the illustration at the top of this chapter. It is Katie and Julia off to corner the Deep Valley market on crepe paper. They have plans. But so do our girls and they are digging in their heels. But more on that later.

Betsy and Julia (and the rest) usually get along fine. At one point Julia bought Betsy a candy egg in a little tin pan to make up for a fight. It cost a penny at Mrs. Chubbocks. Man, you could get a lot of candy for next to nothing back then. Remember the ALL OF A KIND FAMILY girls and their half penny's worth of chocolate babies. If I ever get to travel in time, I am going to bring a ton of pennies. I was trying to find a picture of an egg/frying pan candy and came across this - http://www.truetreatscandy.com/ - which is a candy story website, but it has lots of neat historical candy facts.

Julia is reciting “Queen o' the May” all over town. Insufferable. The immortal trio are eating carrots from Tacy's garden and trying to suss out what is going on. They decide to focus their energies on making Tib a Queen. Betsy asks her mom about May Queens. Mrs. Ray has finished the morning chores and is sitting around embroidering waiting for callers. Did people just show up for calls? Did you serve snacks. It seems I have read enough fiction (and seen enough Masterpiece Theater) to know about this, but if anyone has any actual knowledge based on facts, I'd love to hear it! [6]

And it comes out. 

Katie has decided that Julia should be queen of something and they are going to make her Queen of Summer. Oh yeah, that just occurred to Katie – I'm sure no one put a bug in her ear about that. Katie is so full of romance and pageantry, surely it was HER idea... Humph.

Betsy is FREAKING OUT!! They had been Queen-planning for ages! J&K are copy cats! THIS WILL NOT STAND!!! Truly, Betsy's descent into madness is beautifully written. Maud has a great ability to show Betsy's emotional life. What is your favorite Betsy Ray meltdown? Okay, not meltdown, perhaps "What is your favorite example of Maud's illumination of Betsy's emotional life?" [7] Yep, that sounds better!

BT&T discuss this. Tib is all for caving, but “Betsy and Tacy would have none of such weakness.” They are kicking themselves for not getting started on organizing something Queen-ish, but it is manifesting itself in righteous indignation. I have to say, Betsy can procrastinate. What do you think was her worst case blowing-something-off scenario from the books? [8]

Betsy composes some fine verse about the big sisters and the girls treat them to a performance when they come back up the hill. The older girls are confused. Katie speaks calmly and reasonably – as ever. It is just hilarious. “This time Julia spoke, using that tone of gentle patience which Betsy, Tacy and Tib found particularly maddening.” I know that tone! Big sisters get special training to use that tone. (And many people use it with me, I have no idea why...) And a measly offer of flower girls?? PLEASE!! It goes down.

The picture shows the precise point where Betsy's soul leaves her body and she goes all Hulk. Tib - once again – has her hands in tiny fists! She is always ready to throw down, our Tib. Everybody's eyebrows are angry, except Katie. She has a look of dopey resignation on her face.

The whole neighborhood is in an uproar, crepe paper is torn, and here comes Mr. Ray up the hill – just wanting to read his paper before dinner. Instead, he has to become judge jury and executioner. He says, “What's up?” which sounds so modern, he lets Old Mag find her way to the barn and he tries to sort out the issue.

The picture is adorable. BT&T are just staring into space because Julia is doing three acts of tragedy (with real fake tears!) and they know they shouldn't have let her have the closing argument. “Katie and I would give in. We always do...” But Mr. Ray is aware of her wiles. And he is just. “It seems clear that each side thinks his side is right.” Can you think of any current day situations where both sides are completely convinced of their infallibility? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHH!!!

Please, don't answer that...

Wise King Bob says that the American way is to count on the vote to sort this out. Can you think of any current-- nope, never mind. Moving on...

To wrap up, there is going to be an election in Deep Valley and it is going to solve EVERYTHING!

Below are the questions for discussion I posted to the MAUD-L listerv. Please feel free to contemplate them however you see fit!

-----------------------------------

[1] Foreign language in BT - there are many times that Betsy is caught up in not understanding, or trying to understand other languages. What is your favorite?
(I am a spinach mit ei girl, myself...)

[2] Oh go ahead, what's your favorite outfit you fashion-pay-attention-to-ers? I'll just wait here...

[3] Did any of you go to school back in the day when you had to be orderly in the halls? Was there an actual marching protocol?

[4] I'm just going to put it out there - are Betsy and Tacy kind of bad friends to Tib? Does Tib not really care?

[5] I am trying very hard to keep the questions Tome-centric this time around, but I just have to ask - what part of your immigrant background do you think of as your "old country" identity?
(I am pretty much a mutt, but my paternal grandfather's parents came from "Da Bohemian Country" and that is what I always considered myself. My English/Irish forbears came to this country speaking "Da American Language". How dull...)

[6] What do you know about "making calls"?

[7] What is your favorite example of Maud's illumination of Betsy's emotional life?"

[8] What do you think was Betsy's worst case blowing-something-off scenario from the books?

BETSY AND TACY (and for the love of God, TIB) GO OVER THE BIG HILL group read part 1

There is a group read on the Betsy-Tacy listserv and these are my copious notes for the first three chapters. 

Chapter 1 – GETTING TO BE 10

The book is dedicate to “Kathleen and Tess – the villains of the piece.”

The girls look so pensive in the first picture. Well, they have a lot on their minds. Being 10 is very important. Two numbers in your age is “the beginning of growning up” Betsy would say. She WOULD say it – clearly they have had this philosophical conversation more than once...

This threshold into maturity makes them feel solemn, important and pleased. Maud often lists groups of threes when the girls are ruminating.

Julia and Katie don't have as much fun because they are 12, the little siblings are too young. Clearly “going on 10” is the sweet spot. Remember how important age was when you were little? I used to narrow it down to the quarter year and now I can't remember if I am 51, 52 or 53.

They talk about wearing “pugs” whatever the heck those are. The girls are often defined by their hair color. They are like Charlie's Angels. Clearly, Tib is Farrah, Betsy is Jacklyn Smith and Tacy is Kate Jackson. Any other famous trios you can line them up against? I don't know the Stooges well enough to offer an opinion.

So birthday time is a'coming. Tacy and Tib are too polite to discuss it at length because Betsy isn't there yet and she is the one driving all this 10 is the best stuff. Tacy is first, but she doesn't have a party because there are so many kids. But Betsy and Tib come over for cake. Tib has the flu instead of a party, but her mom sends cake to Betsy and Tacy. Cake that is crawling with disease!

And now it is the day before Betsy's birthday. The girls are going nuts. They climb the hill, putting on a singing show for the Eckstroms who are “making a garden” - which is an interestingly specific turn of phrase.

The Big Hill is so exotic – there is the secret lane and the mystery house! They are “hunting” violets. Tib is ready for the challenge. “We'd better go get those violets.” she says. But I picture her yelling it like - “We'd better go GET THOSE VIOLETS!!”

Tacy realizes that they have gone further than they ever have before and by golly – there is Little Syria over there at the bottom. Tib points that out and Betsy and Tacy freak out! Little Syria is FAR. You go there on a drive, you don't walk there! The world has gone topsy-turvy!

Then there is the story of Mr. Meecham who tried to sell lots as Meecham's Addition, but the “American neighbors” didn't want to live that far out of town, so he sold to Syrian immigrants. Then he stopped going in to town much and just lived out there with his grown daughter. It would be interesting to know what the daughter thought about that.

There is a little uncomfortable language about the Syrians. They were “strange” and “dark”.

But back to the wonder of being so close to L.S. Betsy says now that they are growing up they are going to do to all the hot spots – Little Syria, Minneapolis, Chicago, New York. She knows what's what.

Tib doesn't see the magic of this geographic miracle. She is so literal. It's always been there, they just didn't know it. Betsy and Tacy have to convince her how amazing that is. And then she jumps in with the idea to go down there. Betsy and Tacy are fabulists- they get excited about stuff, but Tib is the one who is ready to go in, guns blazing.

Tacy and Betsy look a little concerned. Little Syria has a bit of a reputation for knife fights. There is this man, Old Bushara who supposedly chased a boy from their school. It sounds at first like those old “my cousin who goes to a different school knows this teacher who keeps an ocelot in the classroom” stories all kids tell.

But when Tacy brings it up – Tib basically says “Sam's a racist shithead.” She says that Sam yelled “Dago” at him and yells at all the Syrians. I love it that Tib is so quick to recognize that this is horrible. Our little social justice warrior! She is really rarin' to go.

Betsy and Tacy share a look, as they often do around Tib, and say – another time...

They head back home with no marching and singing. They pick some flowers. Maud got all the way to page 5 before talking about nature (the bird calls). She is so adept at folding the living world into her work. I have taken so many things from these books as touchstones in my life. The two exceptions are fashion and nature. They just don't stick in my head.

They are definitely subdued. They talk more about growing up. Tib is practical as usual. “Will it be fun?” They are resigned, but she wants clarity. This mood stays to the end of the chapter when Betsy has that middle-of-the-night queer feeling in her stomach. But she falls asleep. And in the morning she is 10.

Chapter 2 – TEN YEARS OLD

In the morning, that queer feeling is gone and Betsy is psyched to be 10. There are clearly shenanigans afoot based on the picture of Papa and Margaret “pounding” Betsy as Julia looks on. Birthdays were clearly more aggressive back in the day. We just “spanked” at my house. And now nobody gets hit at all.

There is snow. In April! Minnesotans, you are truly the hardiest of all the midwesterners.

Julia is far too reserved for pounding. She politely wishes Betsy a happy birthday and Betsy responds “carelessly”. You know, it looks like now that Betsy has two numbers in her age, these two are really going to get along. I can't way to see how this plays out.

Betsy does a lot of things carelessly this chapter and it is just adorable. Kudos to Maud for showing the way that little girls pretend to be grown up in a kind and yet still really funny way.

Betsy is “careless” all over the place this morning, in spite of Mr. Ray and Margaret pouncing on her like a pair of jackals. She crooks her finger when she drinks her milk, but subtly so Julia won't notice. I wonder if her “grown up” behaviors would have been so twee if Julia (from whom she is learning the grown up ways) wasn't so affected. Oh stop it, she is SO affected. Even as a tween. Gah!

There is a problem here. No one has mentioned having Tacy and Tib over for dinner. Has no one noticed that there has been no kick-ass birthday party for these three 10 year olds? In person cake from Tacy, disease cake from Tib and now...crickets... It's cleaning day, says Julia, Mamma can't be bothered to celebrate a birthday. Cold, Julia. Very cold.

Betsy goes to pick up Tacy and the word of the moment is “indeed”. Wow, they have matured fast! They discuss coming over for tea, nail powder and putting up their hair on the way to school. Betsy and Tacy are on message, but Tib is floundering a little.

“Tib didn't know how to talk in the new way. She hadn't learn yet. But she tried.” This is adorable to me, especially knowing that (spoiler) Tib becomes the tiny siren of DVHS and takes Minneapolis by storm as an adorable career girl – charming tramp newspapermen and millionaires alike. Once Tib learns to play the grown-up game, she learns to play the grown up game!

After school it gets awkward. Something is clearly amiss here. Tib jumps into the breach and invites the girls to her house to read the funny papers. That is, if funny papers are still allowed on the grown-up plan. Tacy knows that some pleasures are for children and grown-ups alike and the funny papers are one of those pleasures.

When they get to Tib's they loosen up a bit and have a laugh, but they keep crooking those fingers and decide to call each other by their given names - Elizabeth, Anastasia and Thelma. This freaks out Matilda, the hired “girl” who can't keep up. She looks downright flummoxed in the picture. She also doesn't have eyes behind her glasses, which makes her look a little scary. Must turn page as thoughts of zombie-hired-girl begin to float in my head.

Betsy gets a little sad on the way home. There will be no special birthday supper and she is taking it hard. Tacy is clearly embarassed for her.

When she gets home, the house is spotless. Good thing, Mamma, you've ruined Betsy's birthday. At least the house looks good. And frankly, the rest of the Rays are all looking sharp as well. Julia helps Betsy clean up her messy self for dinner and mentions her birthday. Bitch. Way to rub salt in the wound. Margaret is het up about something, but you know how those unnecessary four year olds are. Completely clueless about birthdays...

Okay, I am just going to say it here. There is a surprise party afoot. Can you believe it?? And I just love how psyched Margaret is about it! She knows a secret! And big grown-up Betsy doesn't know it! She must be savoring the joy of knowing something. And in the cleaning up Betsy picture she looks so pleased with herself. Betsy looks absolutely miserable, though, slump-shouldered and splay-legged. Well done, Lois Lenski.

Now that I have spilled the beans - and frankly, any reader over 7 is going to see which way the wind is blowing here - it is fun to see how it falls in to place.

Mrs. Ray informs Betsy that she needs to go return an egg to Mrs. Rivers. Are you effing kidding me?? On top of the birthday ignoring fiasco, now she is errand girl? Surely Julia could do it the ONE TIME!! But no. There is a cute detail about how many “outdoor clothes” she is required to wear. When I think of the number of outdoor clothes these kids have to wear to survive the elements, I am so thankful I raised my kids in the days of the snowsuit.

Mrs. Rivers is, frankly, acting cagey. She asks Betsy to watch the smallest of her three under four children. Oy. She keeps peering out the window as Betsy uses her new grown-up words and finally she shooes her back home.

When Betsy gets home, she can't believe they have started supper without her. She slogs into the dining room and sees – A PARTY!! Margaret is losing it, “It's a surprise party!!”

There's 10 girls:

• Betsy
• Julia
• Tacy
• Tib
• Katie
• Dorothy
• Alice
• three also rans

Is this our first mention of Alice? Welcome Alice! You will remain the dullest girl of their acquaintence for 8 or 9 other books. (Is she in Carny and Emily? Who can remember?) You are smart and your parents are strict. There you go. Behave accordingly.

The picture is adorable. You can definitely ID the big three and Julia and Katie (smiling-ish) but there is something of a math problem. Maud gives us the guest list, but in the picture there are 10 girls, but one of them is Margaret! She is not on the guest list due to her being too little. Even I get that! But there she is taking the place of one of the school friends. (I am guessing Dorothy is the jowly one on the right due to her height.) Maybe Alice had to leave early because of her strict parents? Oh, it is a mystery!

They play Blind Man's Bluff and Going to Jerusalem (which appears to be musical chairs) and forget to say “indeed” and “prefer” and crook their fingers, but Betsy still feels grown up because she is having a night time party. Tacy, of course, gets the importance right away - “It's practically a ball.” but Tib points out that it isn't a school night so no big deal. Oh, Tib, they love you anyway...

Chaper 3 – THE KING OF SPAIN

The picture at the top of page three raises an interesting question – what the hell is on Mrs. Ray's shirtwaist? Are they pickles? Squashes? Larvae? It is some pattern...

Maud comes out of the gate with the big news – the girls are about to fall in love! All at the same time, all with the same person. Get the popcorn!

Dinnertime at the Rays and the object of conversation is the new King of Spain. He is not yet 16 and yet he is going to take the throne. Betsy is fascinated! He lives somplace – Spain! She knows that kings and queens exist outside of fairy tales (although how long she has known this seems unclear).

Julia helpfully points out (HA!) that Spain is the country they just had a war with. She also says that it's Betsy's turn to wipe the dishes and then they go through that dance that all siblings do about chores. I did it for you when... You owe me because... Nonetheless, I am on team Betsy. Julia is a misery. But Betsy doesn't care because she can learn more about this smokin' hot king.

Madrid is “turned inside out with excitement” according to Mrs. Ray. As is Betsy!

She meets Tacy at the hitching block. They are supposed to be playing games with the neighborhood kids, Betsy usually loves this, but she is too het up.

“Just think!... We're sitting here on the hitching block and at this very moment he's somewhere doing something.” Oh man, I remember that feeling of just existing in the same world as my crush. My gosh, the thrill!

Betsy decides she is in love with him. It's her first time being in love with someone! Tacy is quick to jump on board as soon as she realizes Betsy is okay with that. Tib shows up and they tell her the grand news. They all want to marry him, but Betsy thinks Tacy would make the best queen because she has the best hair. Isn't that always the way?

Tacy is concerned that her bashfulness would not be an asset to the throne, so she is quick to pass off the King to Tib and her accordian pleated dress. Betsy wants to make sure Tib's love is real but FOR ONCE Tib catches on right away. She's down.

The hitching block picture is adorable. Betsy and Tacy are all over the newspaper stories about their beloved and Tib is really just wanting to play Pom-Pom-Pullaway. They all go off and play, but they are not done with that monarch.

They determine they should have badges and Tib can make them because she can do practical things. When Tib solemnly pins them on her pals, Betsy declares that they now have a lodge. It is like a club but more important and very secret. Those girls do love a secret club.

They talk smack about their big sisters for awhile. Julia could never understand the love they have for the King of Spain. She likes stupid regular boys who carry her books. Well, one thing they can certainly learn from Julia is how to make boys do things for her. She's an expert. And Katie would just think it was silly. She's a major buzzkill.

They decide to name the lodge KOS for King of Spain. (That's Kappa Omega Sigma if you're planning on making others feel left out and losing your shot at the essay contest, but I digress.)

They pin his picture to their undergarments and have to hid them from their sisters when they change. That – of course – adds to the excitement!

They learn about mantillas and are quick to culturally appropriate them. Well, they get some shawls from their mothers and wrap their heads in them. They pick some flowers and set up a blanket on the lawn. They are celebrating their beloved's birthday. Julia takes some interest, but is shot down.

They decide to go up the hill Monday and bring the Sunday papers so they can read the accounts of the KOS's big day all together. Tib is a little warm in her mantilla, but Betsy and Tacy remind her that beauty is pain and they just have to get used to it.

They save the papers and go up the hill. They are so excited to read the accounts that they put off eating. Well, that doesn't sound like our girls! Tacy feels awful that they couldn't be there. I'm sure they'll make it up to him someday. They look at pictures and Tib remarks that the castle looks like the post office. Heh...

But then Betsy drops the bombshell. They are not of the blood royal. They can not marry him. Sadness descends. Well, except Tib. In true Tib fashion, she remarks that she'll just dance her baby dance in the pleated dress. She doesn't need a man to fulfill her! Yay, Tib – that attitude will serve you well in BETSY'S WEDDING, I assure you.

These girls need closure and Betsy has a grand idea. They will write to him and tell him of their love. The love that can never be... Betsy and Tacy send Tib off to get writing supplies from Mrs. Eckstrom. Tib doesn't mind, “She ran lots of errands for Betsy and Tacy.” Seriously, Betsy and Tacy? Way to make her feel like the weakest link. While she's gone, they bat about some other Queen-related ideas.

Then Tib gets back and they write the letter, which is hilarious and adorable. It boils down to - you don't know what you're missing, Fonzie... They decide to mail it the next day and go back to the picnic basket. But it is GONE!

I hate to leave you hanging on this cliff, but there you are.

In Praise of Tib

In some of her writing notes Maud Hart Lovelace discusses the way her friend Midge Gerlach - the inspiration for Tib - saw Maud and their other friend Bick Kenney (Tacy). "She appreciated us. She admires us. She realized how wonderful we were." And rereading BETSY TACY AND TIB, I appreciate anew how wonderful Tib is.

[Here are those notes from the Kerlan Collection at the University of Minnesota.]

The reasons I love Tib are many - first of all, she is fearless. Even when she knows there will be consequences, she errs on the side of adventure. When the girls are considering mussing themselves up to go begging, Tib mentions that her mother won't like that. But Betsy realizes, "She meant that her mother wouldn't like her to muss up her dress. She didn't mean she wouldn't do it." [p.9] You do NOT want to play chicken with Tib Mueller, for you will surely lose.

It can take Tib awhile to catch on. When there is a street fair in town, Tib's mom takes them to see the Flying Lady. Mrs. Mueller is taking her sweet-ass time getting them into the tent for the show. The barker is freaking Betsy out with is talk of the show being about to start, but she knows she shouldn't nag. She mentions it once and then shortly thereafter when she can take it not one second longer, she nudges Tib to get her to nag her mom. But Tib is a little slow on the uptake - "What do you want, Betsy? What are you poking me for?" [p.31] But not to worry, Mrs. Mueller is no dummy and she lets them go into the tent where they wait another age and a half for what seems to be a really dull show. But it was the height of special effects for the time. 

My favorite bit of early Tib-ness is in the Learning to Fly chapter. After Tib risks life and limb to learn to fly and Betsy shirks at the end and tells a story designed to get her out of the tree without having to risk almost certain danger, Tib tells Betsy, "I know a joke on you." [p.27] And points out that Betsy got so caught up in her story that she never jumped from the tree. Oh, poor, slow Tib. But she finds it a hoot. Instead of owning it, Betsy looks to Tacy to change the subject, "but Tacy was looking the other way. She was looking the other way hard." This cracks me up every single time. 

Sometimes I feel a little sad for Tib that Betsy and Tacy clearly have this wordless shorthand from such a young age. But Tib seems happy just to be included. Of course, Tacy is understanding about the trip to Milwaukee in BETSY IN SPITE OF HERSELF. And in BETSY WAS A JUNIOR, when Tib moves back to Deep Valley, she and Betsy bond over their boy-crazy-ness in a way that may have made Tacy feel a bit put out. It makes me wonder if Tacy and Tib every got together without Betsy and what that must have been like. Of course, since we are reading from Betsy's perspective, we don't really know. I smell a fanfic opportunity!

Below is a letter that Midge wrote to Maud after having read BETSY TACY for the first time. It shows such Tib-like appreciation. I am heartbroken that I didn't seem to take a picture of page 3. Someday I will go back and look for it. But for now, let's just pretend it talks about the weather. 

I had every good intention of transcribing this, but I am too lazy right now. If you click on the thumbnail, it will open bigger in a window. The Joan who is mentioned is Tib's niece - daughter of Dorothy, Midge's younger sister who was not represented in the books.  (She is referred to as Dolly in Sharla Scannell Whalen's BETSY -TACY COMPANION.) . BETSY TACY AND TIB was dedicated to Midge and Joan.

And in the spirit of the season, I will also put up Midge's Christmas letter. It has to be post-1950 pre-1955 because she references EMILY OF DEEP VALLEY, but mentions the research for BETSY'S WEDDING.

There are some really interesting tidbits here - Midge mentions Maud's wedding, but isn't really clear on when it was so perhaps they weren't as close at that time. Also, the war... And when she talks about the series, she calls it Betsy Tacy & Tib, which I would too! She mentions the hideous Russell McCord (you may know him as Bob Barhydt) and her fear that Maud was going to marry him. There is a bit of heartbreak here when Midge says, "Maybe I should have married Gil and been bored stiff the rest of my life. At least my marriage was exciting and as I could never have any children, my life has been full of action & adventure & I've never been bored." Midge and her husband Charles [Jack Dunhill] separated in the early 1920s and he died in 1929. She never remarried.

To close, I just want to be clear that I am not the Barbara who Midge mentions Maud described as "unusual" in the post script.  But I am thrilled to see my name written in Midge's hand! And I echo her wishes for a Happy New Year to one and all.

Patricia Clapp Makes Me Love America

There are certain writers that I think I love because when I reread their books from my teen years they TAKE ME BACK! These are the books that I read, not so much because the writing is good (although I know for a fact that Marilyn Singer, Robin McKinley and Maud Hart Lovelace all hold up) but because the stories are so entrenched in my teen experience that I suspect I can't separate my inner 14 year old from the quality of the writing.

I am trying to reread the books of my youth with a modern eye. I can't wait to reread SUMMER OF MY GERMANSOLDIER. It seemed earth-changing to me as a young woman. They had Jewish people in the SOUTH?? During WWII? I thought they all lived with the All of a Kind Family on the Lower East Side. Or on the Upper West Side with the Norma Klein girls whose stories I used to have to hide under my bed! (I was seriously obsessed with New York and desperately wanted to be Jewish when I was in middle school. Someday I will tell the story about when we moved from Ohio to Long Island and I met my gym partner, Laura Greenberg. Most awkward-ly well-meaning-ly pro-semitic conversation ever.)

I have a bunch of one-offs I have loved for years. RONNIE AND ROSEY by Julie Angell, TUNE IN YESTERDAY by the gloriously named T. Ernesto Bethancourt and THE BOOK OF PHOEBE by Mary-Ann Tirone Smith.

Then there are the authors where I read some, but not all, of their books. I read and re-read the ones at my library, but didn't have access to all of them. There are the well-known classics of Beverly Cleary, Edward Eager and, I would argue, Ellen Conford. And then there's my beloved American history guide – Patricia Clapp.

First of all, did you know that CONSTANCE: A STORY OF EARLY PLYMOUTH was her first book and she wrote it when she was 56? And it was a runner-up for the National Book Award for Children's Books? What a great second, or third act for Mrs. Clapp! And how does she not have a wikipedia page? I find it hard to believe that the lovely girl from my town who came in third on American Idol has 3000+ words and yet the woman who gave the world page 70 of I'M DEBORAH SAMPSON has nary a mention.

To begin, CONSTANCE. In 1988 I interviewed to be an historical interpreter at Plimoth Plantation in

Plymouth, Mass. One of the bennies of going to interview is that I got a free day-pass to the site. I wandered around, it was beautiful. I was pretty sure I wasn't going to take the job – it would have meant a hour plus commute. But I had to go to Plimoth after having spent so many hours there with my pal Constance as a kid.

Imagine my joy when I MET Constance Hopkins Snow and told her I had read a book about her. She was very dismissive and said something like, “Many half-truths are told by people claiming to know me.” Which clearly showed she was a dud. I would have been like - “Let me tell you about the time the Edwards dueled nearly to the death for my love!”

I just reread CONSTANCE around Thanksgiving this year. I don't connect with Constance as a character, but I respect and admire her and other than some ham-handed Native American descriptions, it was till A-OK with me.

I AM DEBORAH SAMPSON – good Lord, this book was steamy. I mean, not the parts with the war, or the lonliness of colonial poverty, but the Deborah and Robbie love story was smokin'! The used copy I bought a few years ago flips right open to page 70 and it is an ex-libris book from the Sacramento Public Library, so clearly I was not the only historical horn-dog of the late 1970s...

Rereadng this last month I was surprised at how much better it was than I remembered it. I read it as an adolescent obsessed with the romance, but the details about colonial life were fascinating to me as an old bag. Deborah's life being taken in by an emotionally distant relative, her friendship with the local pastor, her eventual boarding with a loving family and her daring to defy gender roles to join the fight that took her beloved away were all beautifully rendered. I remain a huge fan.

I am in the midst of reading JANE-EMILY – a ghost story set in Lynn, Massachusetts, a mere two towns over from where I now reside. I liked it fine as a kid, but it was kind of an also-ran next to CONSTANCE and DEBORAH. Maybe because the main character is neither Jane nor Emily, but rather 18 year old Louisa, Jane's aunt. Louisa has had to leave her Edwardian-hipster boyfriend Martin to take her orphaned niece Jane to stay with Jane's grandmother Mrs. Canfield in her hella-haunted house in Lynn.

The ghostly presence is Emily – a spoiled brat who died of self-inflicted pneumonia when she was 12-ish. Emily sucks. Alive or dead, she is a treacherous little beastie – a melter of wax doll faces and a hogger of reflecting garden balls. She did the world a favor by expiring early, but she has a hold on Jane that is pretty creepy.

I am noticing the turn-of-the-20th-century details more this time around. I am currently on page 87 of my modern-day reread. So far, no hot humping on the farm a la DEBORAH, but there is a slightly mansplainy doctor who is taking an interest in Louisa who seems promising. I'll power through.

My love for Patricia Clapp remains constant. (Ha! Get it? Like Constance?) If you will excuse me, I think I will go try to make a wikipedia page for her.

TEX...rhymes with sex...

But not in a creepy way. Of course.

When TEX came out I was 13 - the same age as Jamie Collins! And I did have it bad for Tex. He was a bad boy, well, not bad but misunderstood. Okay, strike that too. I think we all understood him. He was a screw-up. I can't remember who I heard describe a kid once as "addicted to consequences" but it works here. Tex makes bad decision upon bad decision - and yet he is still appealing.

But first - blond Emilio Estavez?? What the heck??? Nope - book before movie. Except this picture - S.E. Hinton cuddling blond-Emilio. They both look cute as buttons here. But trust me when I say that I could barely watch the Johnny Collins parts of the movie because E.E.'s hair was so distracting. And I had other issues.

As a high school librarian, I hear stories. Kids, particularly kids who don't have dependable adults in their lives, will just drop shit into conversations that curl my graying hair.

• I got in a fist-fight with my aunt's boyfriend this weekend.
• Sorry I was late, I had to get up early to clean my mom's shunt.
• I had to drive to New Hampshire because there was no food at my dad's house so I had to visit my grandparents.

And these are regular events in these kids' lives!

As the mildly-helicoptored daughter of suburban professionals, when I read TEX as a kid - it seemed so unrealistic to me. What kind of father leaves his high school kids to live on their own with no money? For some reason THE OUTSIDERS was okay, there were a bunch of them and Darry seemed to have let his dreams die in order to take care of his brothers in a way that Mason just can't. But TEX was a little too depressing. I still loved him, but I knew I didn't stand a chance against Jamie. She was mean as a ruptured spleen and she was adorable and a feminist. A thirteen-year-old role model to be sure. I thought if I transferred my affection to Johnny, Tex's best friend and Johnny's little sister, I might have a better chance. (A better chance of what, you may ask, with a fictional character. What can I say, even in fiction, I tried to set my sights realistically.)

So there are a lot of things going wrong in Tex's life. Here is a spoiler-y list of his issues:

• He lives in Oklahoma. (Kidding! I love Oklahoma! But Hinton paints it beautifully bleak.)
• His mom is dead. (Don't go outside after a fight with your husband or you will DIE! Just sulk in the bedroom like a normal person.)
• His dad is off chasing rodeo dreams.
• His brother sells his horse so that they can eat.
• He keeps getting in trouble for doing stupid shit like gluing caps on the typewriter keys at school.
• His best friend's (and potential girlfriend's) dad thinks he is poor white trash and is a bad influence on his children.
• Part of him believes this.
• He picks up a psycho hitchhiker.
• He goes on a drug-run with an old school-mate.
• He gets shot. 
• He has a hard time navigating a pay phone. 
• He learns his dad was in prison when his mom got pregnant so who and where his biological dad actually is is a mystery.
• He has this continuing worry that his high-flyer big brother is going to go away to college and what will become of him?

In the movie version you can add:

• His house clearly smells of mildew 24/7.
• His best friend has very distracting blond hair. 

To sum up the book - dang! It is a heartbreaker with a tiny glimmer of hope at the end. He realizes that Mason is the sort of person who needs to go and he is the kind that needs to stay. But what is going to happen to him when Mason goes? Seriously, there is no safety net for this kid. Bleaky-ety-bleak-bleak.

The movie, for being pretty crappy, makes it seem more hopeful. There is a non-cannon sub-plot where Tex hides Mason's college application so he can't go and then fills it in himself and gets Mase into school. I have to say that Indiana State must be hard-up for basketball players if Tex's app can get him in. Or Mason is the greatest white-boy basketball player since Larry Bird. Whatever, suspend your disbelief, Barb. You've done it before.

For one thing, the kids in the movie look older. Matt Dillon was 18 when he made the movie - only three years older than his character. But blond-Emilio was 20, Mex Tilley was a cougar-y 22 and Jim Metzler, who played Mason, was 31. No wonder I felt like he would never let Tex slip through the cracks. He probably had a wife, a toddler and a 401K hidden in the barn.

The dad in the movie was also a bit more stable. The book dad was a complete screwup - if he knocked up Tex's mom (with Mason) right out of high school (which he surely must have) he would have been 37 or 38 in the book - and still with plenty of wild oats to sow. In the movie he was played by Bill McKinney (who played "Mountain Man" in Deliverance - cue banjo music) and he was 51. I guess it felt to me more like he was willing to settle down. 

Tim Hunter directed this and he was the guy that directed RIVER'S EDGE - a 1987 movie that left me very unsettled. Don't want to discuss it here - let's just say that it makes TEX look like FERRIS BUELLER. He went on to direct a lot of TV including episodes of three of my all time favorite series - MAD MEN, BREAKING BAD and HOMICIDE: LIFE ON THE STREETS. 

Speaking of HOMICIDE:LotS - Zeljko Ivanek, who played stalwart DA Ed Danvers has a small part as the psycho hitchhiker in TEX! He doesn't look particularly dreamy in this picture, but he has a charming baby-face. I really like that actor, but if you google-image him, you are going to find a lot of not-very-attractive pictures, so maybe it is just seeing him young and long-haired that made me think "Helloooooo handsome psycho hitchhiker!" I would totally have a chance with the fictional psycho hitchhiker. You know, before he left me in a shallow grave on the side of the Oklahoma dirt road...

At any rate, as ever - what was appealing to me as a teenage reader of S.E. Hinton is rather terrifying to me as an adult reader. And I am going to have to give a bit of credit to the film version of TEX because seeing the setting made it feel a bit richer. I have written a little bit about THE OUTSIDERS but it is so familiar to me that I didn't get that "new eyes" feeling that I did with TEX. 

I have THAT WAS THEN, THIS IS NOW on my to-be-read pile and I didn't even know there was a movie version. Hot dog! And I may even revisit RUMBLE FISH, although I have only read it once because I HATED it when I read it as a teen. No idea why... maybe because it wasn't THE OUTSIDERS. I could be unforgiving...

I am Curly by Maud Hart Lovelace

This summer I went to the University of Minnesota and looked at Maud's papers in the Kerlan Collection. 

There was so much, and I got to to the point where I just started taking pictures of everything so that I could read it later, with an eye towards doing something with it later. Not sure what that will be. Sometimes doing research (and weeping fangirl tears of joy) is reward enough.

One interesting thing I came across was this short story which is a precursor to the High School books.

I always wondered why the books were in the third person - Betsy is such a good friend, it sometimes feels to me as if they are in the first person because Betsy's inner life is so beautifully rendered. This story really struck home why Maud made this choice as a writer. In the first person Curly/Betsy/Maud seems...well...frankly...annoying.  There is just too much of her there.

I love the chatty tone for sixteen pages, but wow would that get tired over the course of even one book, much less 4 High School books or the whole megillah...

There are a LOT of parallels to the high school books. Curly is clearly Betsy - she bemoans the fact of her straight hair that - in the style of huge guys named Tiny the world over - is the basis for her nickname. She is disgusted that the great minds of the day have not yet invented the permanent wave. She has a horse called old Mag. But her little sister is named - wait for it - Pussy. And her older sister is Nannie. I truly didn't think it would be possible to make Julia more insufferable, but clearly, she improved with judicious editing. Mrs. Ray is called "Mom" here. Well, that is just wrong. But she is Mrs. Ray down to the waltz and two-step that make up her piano repertoire. Anna is still the hired girl and "Dad" (gross) makes the standwiches for "supper" on Sunday Nights.

The crowd still exists. Betsy's...erm...Curly's best friend is Bee. (Careful, Bee - your name is CURSED!) and she is Irish, hates boys and has red braids that used to be ringlets when she was younger.  Then there is Gretchen who has blond, fluffy hair, dances like a dream and can do housewifey things. Dot's father is a banker (probably a stick, youknowwhatI'msaying?) and they are Presbytarians, Peg is tall thin and full of the dickens and Erma has a figure not unlike that of Miss Anna Held who takes the milk baths. Geeze, these gals seem familiar...

So the story centers around Curly's first dance at Schubert Hall - hopefully followed by ice cream sundaes at Schmitz's candy store. It's bizarro Deep Valley. But first Bill.


Bill is a TomCabTonian fellow who seems dull as snot while also being overtly spooney and also a tease. He is a 1910 Lax-Bro with a heart of gold. He is not "cute" like Chauncy Olcott. Gross again.

This is Chauncy Olcott in 1908. He looks like Dame Edna.

So the story progresses, Naaaaaaaaaaaaaannie comes home from the U only three weeks in. She is homesick. Also, there is a dance in Deep Valley (Or whatever it is called in this story Bland Boise, perhaps?) and she wants to be the big fish once again. Yes, I am unjustly accusing, but wait - it gets seriously dramatic. Her popular girl problems are vast - the sororities are rushing her mercilessly and there are TWO FELLOWS in love with her!

There is a cute bit here where she says she wanted to come home to talk to Curly because Curly has such good sense. Curly thinks, "I have, too. Isn't that funny?, when I'm so romantic?" She also says, of Nannie's love tempest at college - "And I have to follow her at the U! Sometimes I get discouraged." Hee...

Turns out the boys are coming down for the podunk-hometown dance because of Nannie's charms. Nannie asks Curly to go to the dance with the boy she likes less because clearly she has no respect for her sister's ability to get a date.

But wait, says "Dad". Isn't Curly supposed to go with Bill? But Curly blows off Bill and he doesn't even seem to care. A free sundae at Hei-Schmitz's to the person who can correctly guess who Bill is going to take to the dance! Turns out Erma has just as much luck as Irma with boys ditching her last minute because of life-threatening illness.

So the college MEN show up and according to Curly they have padded shoulders and the "killingest slang" but they only have eyes for Nannie. Especially Curly's date - the aptly named Phil Downer. I don't know who Maud knew in real life named Phil, but I bet he was as shallow as a puddle in the desert.

Even with the lousy company, Curly is thrilled to be with a U man. And Gretchen - who she calls her partner in crime - plays it up to the crowd girls, which gives Curly a big charge. I love that Maud is always realistic about how Betsy or Curly - or whoever she is channeling her own character into - loves the feeling of being popular. It feels cool to be perceived as cool. Even in the Bull Moose era.

They go to the dance. More weirdness. The local hack is driven by Buzz Hickey, Mr. Thumbler not existing yet. All Curly's dances are taken because, well, it makes for a good story. At one point she dances with the boy Nannie likes, Ted, and he tells Curly her head smells like a drug store. Which is a hoot because she mentions that she just douses herself with perfume. But he also says she's a great dancer and invites her up to the U for some frat parties. Seems like Ted is a bit of a player.

But the good feeling doesn't last as Phil the Downer punches Ted and storms off. Nannie has to sneak Ted to Dr. Willard's (Hey, where have I heard that name before?) and Curly is charged with getting the girls' wraps and scarves and slipper bags out of the dance and slinking away in shame.

But wait! As she leaves the hall, who should be on the stairs but Bill! He has noticed that Curly had all her dances taken and he offers to go to the doctor's, grab Nannie and her dirty dog, Ted and then go for Merry Widow Sundaes! Turns out he was doing a favor for football star "Hank" who couldn't dance with Erma, but was still down to walk her home and try to get a little milk-bath action. (Okay, sorry, that sounded horrible.)

And so that is how it wraps up. They eat sundaes and act nuts. And Bill threatens Curly with a curling iron he brought to the dance as a gag. Oh how they laughed! And on the way home he tells her that he likes her hair straight. Which to Maud Hart Lovelace is the greatest compliment any human can give another.

Yes, it is slightly adorable, but it's no Betsy Tacy high school story. If you would like to read the whole thing, you can find it here.  I don't think it is copyright protected, but it is property of the Kerlan Collection at the University of Minnesota. The glorious, glorious Kerlan Collection.

Like Sands Through the Hourglass...

Illustration by Lois Lenski, annotation by MHL, designed by Julia Nephew.

First of all, Betsy Tacy friends are everywhere. I was looking for the image above and found a WordPress site with a slick bibliographic rundown of BT and then started poking around the site and found that it was created by Julia Nephew who I have heard speak at conventions and who is an all around lovely person.  The bibliograpic info is here and there are some great links up top too!

Now if you haven't read Betsy Tacy, this is not going to make sense. So go read it. Just the first one... Although, really, you might just want to devote the next few days to reading the whole series. Or 40 years of your life to obsessively reading it. Whatever your comfort zone is.

There is a group re-read on the Facebook as I type this and it is fascinating. I like the conversational tone of it. I have done group reads of the BT books before, but it has been on the list-serv where people write in long form and then others reply, or we have a series of questions that sometimes go off into "What in your life was inspired by this plot point or character?" kind of discussions which are interesting in other ways. Both methods have their selling points.

I am in the process of typing out the longhand notes I took whilst doing a very close read of BETSY WAS A JUNIOR last winter and it is a slog. First of all, what kind of human being can't read her own handwriting?? The Ohio Public Schools failed me with regard to penmanship. Thank goodness that the computer revolution has killed handwriting. I would hate to have to take the rap for that crime alone, but a case could be made. Secondly, I get into some weird shit. I am not sure if I am doing the world a favor of a disservice in opening up the workings of my brain.

So I am going to consider this a test run. I will look at the way that sand runs through the book - like, well, sand through the hourglass! Ha! If this were a drinking game, take a shot when I reference the title of the blog post. Hey, it can only help...

So...sand...

One of the the things I love about BT is that is shows how self-entertaining these girls are. They make their own fun. The storytelling, the piano box, the dressing up and going calling - all these things show a kind of imagination that has been, for many kids,  squelched by the constant stream of available entertainment.

As a kid, I could see my mother's internal struggle - does she tell me to put down the book and go play or just bask in the glow that she gave me a hunger for reading that precluded physical activity and just allow me to turn into a novel eating larvae that rarely got off the couch? (Spoiler - she chose door number two!) How much harder is if to fight against 4,000 channels of TV, YouTube and video games?

But I digress. (Get used to it.)

After Easter egg dying, Betsy saved the dye because possibly she was a tiny hoarder but you never know when you are going to need it. And since there was sand available due to a new building project (more on that later) she and Tacy decided to color it and sell it.

Part of Maud's gift is showing how these girls mature. When they dye the eggs, Katie and Julia are in charge. They "put on big aprons and acted important, but not too important. They let Betsy and Tacy help, coloring the eggs." (p.57) Oh, you just know that B & T LOVED being "let" to help. They were having fun, but their eternal resentment of their sisters' bossiness was still a tiny flame burning in their hearts, I am sure.

Payback is a bitch, as we all know and later on when Julie and Katie come down from their big business on the Big Hill to see the magnificence of the sand they say, "Well, for goodness' sake!" which is practically admitting that Betsy and Tacy are the coolest kids in Deep Valley. They had it coming...  Julie and Katie offer to help put it into bottles after dinner. Who are the boss-ladies now, big sisters?

[Yes, I have an older sister. Yes, she was perfect. Yes, Maud perfectly hit the tone of love/resentment/idealization that is ever so familiar to all of us who are middle children - over and over again!]

SO now they are going to sell their art. But who is their demographic? Well, from the illustration on page 71 it is clear that Mrs. Benson is clearly their market. Her house is as busy as a Oriental Trading Company catalog. This woman is LONGING for more crap to buy. And also, she is the best.

Mrs. Benson doesn't appear to have kids. Or if she does, they are grown and gone. But she knows just how to interact with little girls. Later on, when Betsy and Tacy dress up and go calling she is just brilliant in the way that she never breaks character. She treats them like the grown women that they are pretending to be and it is just perfect.

They make a butt-ton of money selling some of the sand to Mrs. B. It is at least 9 or 10 cents. These riches lead to their near-purchase of the chocolate colored house and the eventual friendship with Tib.

The sand is available because of the new build on the house - for Robert Ray Junior - aka Margaret.This is foreshadowing which I can't believe I never noticed before. Good grief... So many new relationships. And the end of others. (RIP Baby Bee, I can't even with the bird flying to heaven.)

The most important new person is Tib. When B&T call on Mrs. Benson, they also drop off TWO of Mrs. Ray's calling cards at the chocolate colored house. Because they have no idea that they are making Mamma look like a stalker. But on the bright side, Mrs. Mueller "returns" the call and that is how they meet Tib. They are nervous about this kid. Julia and Katie love her when they meet her, but she sounds like kind of a prig. They go to see her, though. And she can stand on her head. Nailed it, Tib!

One final thing, in the chapter where they take a magic milk cart for a ride, I was trying to think of the way that "Deep Valley" is laid out and I was thinking - "Wait - this isn't how the town is laid out! I can't believe that she is describing a turn from Front Street to Broad Street - they run parallel!!" And then I remembered - when you are a kid, you don't know how streets are laid out, unless they are right in your neighborhood. Betsy has no idea how streets downtown are laid out at this point in her life. Nailed it, Maud!

MEN, MEN, MEN, WE'RE MANLY MEN...

FARMER BOY by Laura Ingalls Wilder illustrated by Garth Williams (1933) and EDDIE AND HIS BIG DEALS WRITTEN AND ILLUSTRARED BY CAROLYN HAYWOOD (1955)

There is a lot to unpack here with gender roles. I will focus more an Almanzo Wilder, marginally fictional person, at a later date after I revisit him in the other Wilder books. But as for what it means to be a boy, a farmer boy, if you will, you've come to the right place. And Eddie's journey of discovery from girls being “poison” to accepting them as fellow humans also has some things to say.

First up – FARMER BOY. Okay, y'all know who Laura Ingalls Wilder is, unless you live under a rock or have never picked up a book. And what the heck are you doing reading this, if that is the case? She is famous, look her up. I rarely look at illustrations, but I can pick Garth Williams out of a line-up. My favorite story regarding him is that, on the back of the Harper Collins versions of the LITTLE HOUSE books, it says that when he was hired to put in new illustrations, he “followed the travels of the Ingalls Family across the midwest” (or something like that). My pal Hillary (a reputable academic librarian) said that when she was a little girl, she thought that meant that when the Ingallses were crossing the prairie, Mr. Williams followed them and observed them “from a respectful distance.” It make me hoot every time I think about it.

So the book is full of the charms of hard work and farming and being self sufficient. Father is a tough hard-working man who has made quite a success of his farm and is passing along his knowledge to his kids. Because Royal, Almanzo's big brother, is now at the academy (it took me awhile to realize this was boarding school), the focus is on Almanzo's education. Not his schooling – he hates that shit – but on the work of the farm. And that kid works HARD! He does all these things:

• pitches hay
• milks cows
• breaks calves
• makes shingles
• pumps water
• cuts ice
• sorts potatoes
• cleans the cellar
• sows seeds

and this is not even halfway through the book!

At one point he is hauling logs and has to get his calves out of a ditch, is nearly knocked unconscious by a falling log and works hurt for a whole week, just shaking it off. He also doesn't speak at meals unless spoken to. (Seriously, in the last chapter there is a part where his father asks him a question during a meal and it is as suspenseful as any Stephen King thriller!) He eats like he is going to the chair throughout the whole thing.

There is a lot here about how his father trains him to be self-sufficient and make his own choices and the big question at the end is if he will take a position as an apprentice buggy-maker in town which will lead to a life of wealth, or if he will decide to stay a farmer like his Father. And it reads like a moral decision. Should he take a cushy life where he depends on others' desire for buggies, or work the land like a real man? (Not even considering that buggy-making is hard work as well.) I bet you can guess which way he goes!

There is a good bit about “girls' work vs. boys' work” but the inclusion of sister Alice, who likes boys' work just fine as a rule, is a nice touch. She is Laura-like in her desire to have the best of both worlds. It seems to me that Almanzo learned to appreciate a bit of spunkiness in his womenfolk that led to his choice of a future wife.

Eddie, on the other hand, has been trained to loathe girls. He has three older brothers with the super-butch names of Rudy, Joe and Frank. When a new kid, Sidney, moves in next door, Eddie is ecstatic! Sid has a wound on his head, collects stuff and has a bunch of animals. They are going to be BESTIES!!

Then Eddie finds out that Sidney is a girl and his world crumbles. What kind of horrible joke is the universe playing on him?? Girls suck!

I can't entirely blame Eddie for his shitty attitude. At one point, when Sidney comes over, he hides in the closet (paging Dr. Freud) and his dad helps him get away with it, saying, “She should be ashamed of herself...If she could be a make-believe boy yesterday, why can't we have a make-believe boa constrictor today?” (There was a snake involved in the story.) He also feeds Eddie pancakes when he is hiding from Sidney under the breakfast table. If you are keeping score at home, Eddie also hides under the bed. Eddie clearly has issues facing up to his fears.

A bunch of stuff happens, there is another girl involved who snatches a printing press that Eddie desperately wants out of his clutches. He has to procure a wig and a doll to make a trade for what he really wants, there is a rogue peacock. Eventually he comes to grips with the fact that girls are not, in fact, poison. And he even discovers that you can be friends with him.

I predict a lot of relationship issues in Eddie's future. And maybe a nice golden retriever and a summer house in Provincetown for Sidney. Maybe some consciousness-raising for Anna Patricia in about 25 years. But I think they'll be okay.

The illustration are absolutely delightful. My favorite one is where Eddie has to read out loud in class and he has lost his place. It is a simple drawing, but you can see his frustration level with just a few details. Haywood is really gifted at bringing an emotional bite to her work. And her writing is clear and accessible.

It's hard to say how today's kids would respond to these books. They are both loaded with gender stereotypes, but in FARMER BOY they are clearly historically-based. In EDDIE, they are presented as contemporary (which they are clearly not) in a way that might be confusing for kids and certainly off-putting for parents with any sort of social conscience. I honestly don't know if there is as much gender separation in today's elementary schools. I know in good old liberal New England, we don't allow that nonsense, but perhaps not everywhere. Even 40 years ago I took cooking and wood-shop in middle school and still remained the picture of femininity that I am today. And people on the internet are quick to call out stereotyping of all kinds. This is a cute story about a kid with real interests and passions and for a discerning reader who recognizes that it is a work of its time, it could be enjoyable.

SOMETIMES I FEEL LIKE A MOTHERLESS CHILD...

JOURNEY TO AN 800 NUMBER by E. L. Konigsburg [1982]

MARY'S STAR by Wilma Pitchford Hays [1968]

E.L. Konigsburg has been in the news recently. Her most famous work FROM THE MIXED UP FILES OF MRS. BASIL E FRANKWEILER just had maybe it's 40^th anniversary and the Metropolitan Museum of Art (where it is mostly set) was featuring it. That book is freaking brilliant. As a kid I was also obsessed with JENNIFER, HECATE, MACBETH, WILLIAM MCKINLY AND ME, ELIZABETH which I recently tried to reread and found too stressful. This woman can choose titles, that is for sure!

JTA800N surprised me with it's weirdness and appeal. Once again, there is a kid who I would want to slap about the head and neck if he were real, and yet, his curiosity and obstinance are strangely appealing on the page. Basically, Max's mom is getting married to a rich guy who can keep her (and Max) in the style to which she is very interested in becoming accustomed. So Max is to spend the summer with his father who is a camel keeper.

The camel, Ahmad, is kind of the MacGuffin of the story. Woody, Max's dad, travels around bringing Ahmad to events like the state fair, a convention of travel agents and eventually a Vegas show featuring Max's mom's friend from her hippie days, Trina Rose - who I can't help picturing as Cass Elliot.

Max meets Sabrina, a fascinating girl about his age, and her mother Lilly, a chameleon whose job leads to the meaning of the title. Sabrina collects stories about freaks and Lilly, well, it is too good a twist – I am going to recommend you read this weird little book.

There is a bit of a language problem – the word “retarded” is used pejoratively and there is even a pretty crude joke about Downs Syndrome – both by Max. But in the context of him being kind of an asshole, a bright kid is not going to think, “Hey, despite what is told to me by every decent person, I guess it IS okay to talk like this!”

The secondary characters, hell, ALL the characters are kind of fascinating. The world is bizarre but realistic and I love Trina Rose so much, I want to be her. I was continually taken by surprise throughout as Max learns about the rich lives of people to whom he feels a bit superior and about his own origins. The title seems a stretch and the cover art is just horrible, but the book was a pleasure to read from cover.

MARY'S STAR is pretty conventional historical fiction from the 60s. There is a girl, a distant older brother, an orphaning (is that what you call it when you become an orphan?), some nice neighbors, a horrible nouveau riche landowner, a scrawny yet appealing apprentice, some happy negro servants (wouldn't want to be unpleasant and call them slaves, or enslaved people), a Revolutionary War, and, of course, a horse.

Honestly, that pretty much sums it up. There is NOTHING happening in this book that you don't see coming a mile and a half away. Ooh, Mary wears pants sometimes. Because she is a bit of a tomboy. But don't worry! At the end she realizes that being a girl is okay because if you look pretty, people will do things for you. And check out the sequal MARY'S STARLIGHT LOUNGE where she finds out that that can lead to an orphan girl working the pole. Okay, that is a lie. But it saddened me that in an otherwise slightly dull tale of a girl with a bit of gumption, the denouement is basically she gussies herself up and things take care of themselves. Perhaps I'm jaded. Mary still talks of adventures and still rides astride, but it is 1781 and I know that it is going to be a good 200+ years before Mary would be allowed to be herself and just enjoy being who she is without worrying about conforming to gender roles.