Book Review: Betsy-Tacy and Tib
Jul. 7th, 2023 07:33 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
osprey_archerWhen last we left Betsy and Tacy, they were six years old and had just met Tib, the acrobatic little girl just their age who lived in the chocolate-colored house with the turret and the stained glass above the front door. Now, catching up with them in Betsy-Tacy and Tib, the three girls are eight years old, fast friends who never quarrel.
The equanimity of their friendship comes as a surprise to the neighborhood: when Tib showed up, the neighbors murmured ominously, “Two little girls often do play nicely, but just let a third one come around…” But in this case, there’s no trouble.
Betsy is the ringleader, the one who always makes up the stories and games. She’s the one who suggests that they beg for food at the house at the top of the Big Hill, teach themselves how to fly, make an Everything Pudding, which is a stovetop concoction consisting of a bit of everything they like in the kitchen. (As you might imagine, the result is completely inedible.)
Tacy is her loyal sidekick, not merely following her lead but “Yes, and”ing her if Betsy ever needs a boost. She catches on instantly when Betsy makes up a new make-believe game, like the Mirror World, which you can only see by holding a hand mirror perpendicular to the ceiling. Ah yes, she and Betsy agree, Tib’s beautiful Aunt Dolly must live there.
Literal-minded Tib is baffled by this kind of nonsense. Aunt Dolly lives in Milwaukee, not a mirror! But Betsy and Tacy like her anyway, because she’s fearless, easily taking the lead when courage is called for. When the girls go begging, Tib is the one who actually knocks on the door and asks for food. During their flying lessons, Tib jumps without qualm from the branch on the maple. They make a phenomenal team.
A couple of other fantastic moments from this book: I love the bit where Betsy and Tacy help Tib and her brother build a playhouse in Tib’s basement, and Tib’s father says that someday his son will be an architect. “What about me, Papa? Will I be an architect, too?” asks Tib, and he says, “Nein, you will be a little housewife,” much to Betsy’s puzzlement. Didn’t Tib build the house just as much as her brother, after all? The gender politics in Betsy-Tacy are always firmly in favor of girls following whatever career path they desire. Architect, opera singer, housewife, writer… follow your heart, says Maud Hart Lovelace!
I also love the bit where the trio, annoyed that Betsy and Tacy’s older sisters have started a secret club, decide to start their own club. The Christian Kindness Club! In order to train themselves to be good, they will put a stone in a little bag around their necks every time they are naughty. Unfortunately, it turns out that putting stones in the bags is so fun they just get naughtier and naughtier, especially once they start getting competitive about finding two- and three-stone naughtinesses.
When they’re not being naughty, however, the girls like to sit on the back fence and talk about God. This is such an eight-year-old thing to do, and one rarely reflected in books. I think one of the reasons that Betsy-Tacy endures is this perfect balance between its enchanting, nostalgic vision of childhood, and this rock-solid reality underpinning it. Lovelace remembers her childhood perfectly, and knows exactly what children are like, and sometimes children are goofy and make Everything Pudding, and sometimes they are serious and discuss the Big Questions with great solemnity.
The equanimity of their friendship comes as a surprise to the neighborhood: when Tib showed up, the neighbors murmured ominously, “Two little girls often do play nicely, but just let a third one come around…” But in this case, there’s no trouble.
Betsy is the ringleader, the one who always makes up the stories and games. She’s the one who suggests that they beg for food at the house at the top of the Big Hill, teach themselves how to fly, make an Everything Pudding, which is a stovetop concoction consisting of a bit of everything they like in the kitchen. (As you might imagine, the result is completely inedible.)
Tacy is her loyal sidekick, not merely following her lead but “Yes, and”ing her if Betsy ever needs a boost. She catches on instantly when Betsy makes up a new make-believe game, like the Mirror World, which you can only see by holding a hand mirror perpendicular to the ceiling. Ah yes, she and Betsy agree, Tib’s beautiful Aunt Dolly must live there.
Literal-minded Tib is baffled by this kind of nonsense. Aunt Dolly lives in Milwaukee, not a mirror! But Betsy and Tacy like her anyway, because she’s fearless, easily taking the lead when courage is called for. When the girls go begging, Tib is the one who actually knocks on the door and asks for food. During their flying lessons, Tib jumps without qualm from the branch on the maple. They make a phenomenal team.
A couple of other fantastic moments from this book: I love the bit where Betsy and Tacy help Tib and her brother build a playhouse in Tib’s basement, and Tib’s father says that someday his son will be an architect. “What about me, Papa? Will I be an architect, too?” asks Tib, and he says, “Nein, you will be a little housewife,” much to Betsy’s puzzlement. Didn’t Tib build the house just as much as her brother, after all? The gender politics in Betsy-Tacy are always firmly in favor of girls following whatever career path they desire. Architect, opera singer, housewife, writer… follow your heart, says Maud Hart Lovelace!
I also love the bit where the trio, annoyed that Betsy and Tacy’s older sisters have started a secret club, decide to start their own club. The Christian Kindness Club! In order to train themselves to be good, they will put a stone in a little bag around their necks every time they are naughty. Unfortunately, it turns out that putting stones in the bags is so fun they just get naughtier and naughtier, especially once they start getting competitive about finding two- and three-stone naughtinesses.
When they’re not being naughty, however, the girls like to sit on the back fence and talk about God. This is such an eight-year-old thing to do, and one rarely reflected in books. I think one of the reasons that Betsy-Tacy endures is this perfect balance between its enchanting, nostalgic vision of childhood, and this rock-solid reality underpinning it. Lovelace remembers her childhood perfectly, and knows exactly what children are like, and sometimes children are goofy and make Everything Pudding, and sometimes they are serious and discuss the Big Questions with great solemnity.
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Date: 2023-07-09 12:23 pm (UTC)Oh, I'm fascinated that you actually visited the mirror world! It never occurred to me to try it as a child. Perhaps it's not too late...