Heaven to Betsy and Betsy in Spite of Herself

I first picked up a Betsy-Tacy book because Sarah at Library Hospital was raving about them. Last year she held her first Maud Hart Lovelace Challenge and I made it through the first four Betsy-Tacy books (click on the links below to read my thoughts):

Betsy-Tacy
Betsy-Tacy and Tib
Betsy and Tacy Go Over the Big Hill
Betsy Tacy Go Downtown (no review)

I was hoping to finished off the whole series, but didn't get around to it. Therefore, I told myself that I would finish the Betsy books during the second annual Maud Hart Lovelace Challenge and I'm currently on track with that plan!

I started off this month by reading Heaven to Betsy and Betsy in Spite of Herself which Harper Collins combined into one "volume", if you will, of a book. (Insert proper disclaimer about how I received this book from Harper Collins but I'm expressing my own opinions of the book, etc., etc.)

I cracked open Heaven to Betsy and found Betsy on her way to high school with her good friend Tacy. In the previous books I have really liked Betsy but I have to say that the teenager version of her grates upon my nerves. I'm just going to go ahead and confess it. It's all boys, boys, boys with Betsy and it becomes wearisome. Tacy, on the other hand, seems much more level headed and enjoys her life without the constant gaming that comes with being a teenage girl who makes you want to do nothing but roll your eyes at her.

Is that to say that I did not like the book!? On the contrary. See, I can't really say that I never experienced some of the same thoughts that Betsy did when I was growing up. I also had a tremendously close friend and my relationship with her reminds me of the friendship that was shared by Betsy and Tacy. And so it is with some calm, reluctant understanding that I still enjoy Betsy. She will grow out of this boy-crazy phase. I'm convinced. Most level-headed girls do and I would say that Betsy is remarkably level headed.

The only thing I honestly didn't like in Heavens to Betsy was that Betsy receives a Ouija board for Christmas and she and her friends make some good use out of it. I don't find the idea of dabbling in the spirit world remotely safe or entertaining and have no tolerance whatsoever for Ouija boards. There were about 2 chapters in the middle of the book that focused on this particular activity and given that the subject matter was dropped in short order, I had no qualms about finishing the book. However, you should know that such a thing exists in these books, regretfully.

At any rate, Betsy makes it through her freshman year in Heaven to Betsy and we find ourselves moving on to her Sophomore year in Betsy in Spite of Herself. If it is possible for Betsy to be more boy crazy in this story, I can't see how. She's very focused on making herself dark and mysterious and attractive to members of the opposite sex. Tacy plays a smaller role in this book than she did even in Heaven to Betsy which I find rather regrettable. However, it is Tacy who affirms to Betsy that she should be true to herself first and foremost. She points out to Betsy that being one's self is what is important and that people genuinely like her for her. Betsy must learn this lesson for herself though and that is the purpose of the book.

The most entertaining aspect of this book, to me, was the jab Maud Hart Lovelace took at Elsie Dinsmore. Disnmore is declared too perfect a character and on this point, I simply must agree. I know there are Elsie Disnmore fans out there but if I had to choose boy crazy Betsy to Elsie's condescension, I have to say I'd take Betsy every single day of the week!

The most intriguing thing about Betsy's high school years, to me, is the fact that they were modeled closely after Lovelace's. Lovelace seems to have "changed the names to protect the innocent" in her stories and researched her own high school diaries when writing of Betsy's high school years. In the back of the new Harper Collins editions, they provide a list of the fictional characters alongside the names of the actual people that Lovelace based her characters on. Essentially I walked away from these first two stories of Betsy in High school feeling like I got to know Lovelace in high school.

Apparently, Lovelace destroyed her diaries after the high school stories were published. She said herself that the diaries were filled with, "boys, boys, boys!" and so I'm guessing we didn't miss much excepting to find out who she had a crush on. I don't really care to know.

I recognize that this review might sound a bit more negative, but I don't meant it to be so. On the whole, I like seeing Betsy grow up, primarily because I enjoyed her past and I have high hopes for her future. Heaven to Betsy and Betsy in Spite of Herself is just that awkward in between stage for a girl when she's not really a child, nor is she an adult. You make mistakes, you know, and learn a great deal during those years. So does Betsy.

I look forward to reading more and my thanks goes out again to Sarah for hosting this reading challenge which spurs me onward!