Betsy and Tacy have lots of fun together. And from the moment they meet at Betsy’s fifth birthday party, Betsy and Tacy become such good friends that everyone starts to think of them as one person–Betsy-Tacy. Sure enough, they do–a little girl named Tacy. So when a new family moves into the house across the street, Betsy hopes they will have a little girl she can play with.

The description of this book from the publisher reads, 'There are lots of children on Hill Street, but no little girls Betsy’s age. It wasn’t until I started taking classes in children’s literature so as to get my MLIS degree that I discovered the name Maud Hart Lovelace at all. Actually, I didn’t even know about these books as a kid. Betsy and the Boys (note to self: Use this title in a blog post at some point). It’s wrong that I never read one of these as a kid, isn’t it? But honestly, though my name was Betsy, I sort of eschewed any books that toted my moniker. (But really, I love the high school books the best, and I probably read Betsy’s Wedding every single year.) – Lori ErokanĪ deceptively simple book about the joys of friendship and being five, this book manages to make the death of a baby sister seem like perfectly reasonable subject matter in a book for young children. This is where it starts (and where I first met them), so I have to include this volume for younger readers. I didn’t read these books until I was an adult but I fell in love with them.

#70 Betsy-Tacy by Maud Hart Lovelace (1940)

Betsy tacy companion