Two rainbows! Very faint, but still I saw them!!! 🙂
One day in August I got an email from a blog friend, Katie, writing to me about a series of books: The Betsy-Tacy books, these are a series of semi-autobiographical novels by American novelist and short-story writer Maud Hart Lovelace (1892-1980).
I had used a quote from one of the books on a blog post, which prompted Katie to write me.
I didn’t realize there is so many wonderful things about Betsy-Tacy and her books. A huge following of men and women have created a Betsy-Tacy society, helped purchase the houses Betsy-Tacy grew up in and other tireless good works.
(This is the photo of one of the books, featured on Amazon.com)
They work to spread the word about these delightful books–even donating them to local libraries.
Betsy-Tacy are true stories written at the turn of the 20th Century—1900 — set in Mankato, Minnesota , similar to the Little House on the Prairie books, only in 1900, not 1871.
Please take some time out of your busy day to visit these sites I have marked in blue you just might like these special little books! I have only read the first four for far.
I hope you enjoy them!
Love,
Linda
Life on a Colorado Farm 
I don’t know this series of books, but I grew up on all the LHOTP books, read them several times, then read them to my Italian-born daughters several times too. I also love Willa Cather. So I will definitely look these up. Thanks so much of the heads up!
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You are most welcome! I hope you enjoy them like I have.
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If they are anywhere near as good as the Anne of Green Gables books I shall love them.
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I think they are, Pat! Lighthearted and fun.
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Thanks for the heads up about the Betsy-Tacy books. With a name like that, how could I not check them out? I, too, saw the two rainbows in your photo.
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They are a very ‘nice’ read, George! And it’s nice to have nice to read.
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I grew up reading the Betsy-Tacy books and am thrilled we now have a society and have purchased their houses. I ran all over NE Minneapolis pretending to be in Deep Valley. If you missed them in childhood enjoy them now!
Now do we have any Gladys Taber fans in the crowd?
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Okay…do we have any Gladys Taber fans? Fun to learn about new authors!!
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I just met with a lady who told me that the homes might now be totally owned by individuals . I loved all the books, and was in touch with the society when I ran the resort in Ely. I wanted to know more about Mankato thinking of moving there. Cab ( one of the characters in the books, ) giving tours of the then houses owned bu the society. You can see them on line..LOVE Gladys Tabor as well..so much in IDEALS magazines by her. WOnderful to get back to LOVE isn’t it? Merri
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Oh Linda, Thank you so much!! The motto of the Society is, “I thought I was the only one.” We have managed to get Harper Collins to reprint the books. They start as Betcy, Tacy, and Tib are five years old and continue through WWI when the girls are in Europe, and Betsy comes home to escape the war and marry Joe. They are all age appropriate and just WONDERFUL. Thank you so much!! I belong to a group of women in the San Francisco Bay Area who meet twice a year to enjoy the books. There are groups all over the country who do the same thing. It is a lot of fun.
You can contact the Society directly Betsy-Tacy.com.
Linda,thanks again for letting people know about them. It’s expensive to maintain the houses,and we don’t take government money so we need all the help we can get.
Enjoy!
Katie
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Thank YOU! It’s been fun learning about the books!
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I’m always looking for new books to read. Thank you for the recommendation
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You are most welcome!
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The Betsy -Tacy books are totally amazing, and since I grew up in that time frame, much is so familiar. I am so thankful the houses are now owned by the society. I had not known that and thought they were individually owned. Lovely to know we can visit and go through them any time —Mankato is not far from Northfield…( 45 minutes) Since I just moved here I will be going over at some point. . I shall share this too with my facebook..love to see this kind of lovely writing and values going out . The world definitely needs Betsy Tacy and Tib, and thinly sliced onions with pepper on pumpernickel ..sandwiches too…We always had Saturday Night Lunch or Saturday night Supper the same way..they do. Loved it.. try it .. smiles to you..Love Merri
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Thank you so much for you comment, Merri!
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I have never heard of them either .. But if they are as good as Anne of Green Gables they will be magic 😃
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Mankato that is way south of me! But it should have a good flavor of Minnesota in it! 🙂
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