Betsy-Tacy Books

“Some characters become your friends for life. That’s how it was for me with Betsy-Tacy.” —Judy Blume

The First Four Books in the Betsy-Tacy Series in One Volume

Read by Mara Wilson

There are lots of children on Hill Street, but no little girls Betsy’s age. So when a family moves into the house across the street, Betsy hopes they will have a little girl she can play with. Sure enough Betsy meets Tacy and one of the most heartfelt friendships in all of children’s literature begins.

The Betsy-Tacy Treasury brings together the first four books in Maud Hart Lovelace’s classic series: Betsy-Tacy, Betsy-Tacy and Tib, Betsy and Tacy Go Over the Big Hill and Betsy and Tacy Go Downtown. Tracing the girls’ lives from early childhood to the brink of adolescence, Lovelace illuminates their innocent, mischievous fun and eye-opening adventures exploring the world around them – from the stories Betsy spins from the bench at the top of Hill Street and the sand stores they run in their backyards to her first experiences at the library, the thrill of the theater and the sight of their first automobile.

Featuring forewords by New York Times bestselling authors Judy Blume, Ann M. Martin and Johanna Hurwitz Anna Quindlen, cover art illustrated by Lois Lenski from the original 1941 publication of Betsy, Tacy and Tib, interior illustrations by Lenski, along with archival material and photos of Maud Hart Lovelace, her friends and the town of Mankato, MN, the basis for Deep Valley.

Many of places and homes from the books can still be seen today, including Betsy’s and Tacy’s childhood homes, which are available to tour thanks to the Betsy-Tacy Society.

Read all the books in the classic Betsy-Tacy series, which follows aspiring writer Betsy Ray and her friends from the age of five through to Betsy’s post-high school travel in pre-WWI Europe and her wedding, spanning the first decade of the 1900s and beyond. These iconic stories, based in large part on Maud Hart Lovelace’s own childhood, teenage years and young adulthood in Mankato (Deep Valley), MN have been beloved by generations of readers and authors alike:

The Betsy-Tacy Books
Betsy-Tacy
Betsy, Tacy and Tib
Betsy and Tacy Go Over the Big Hill
Betsy and Tacy Go Downtown
Also available in the four-volume omnibus The Betsy-Tacy Treasury
Heaven to Betsy/Betsy in Spite of Herself (two-volume omnibus)
Betsy Was a Junior/Betsy and Joe (two-volume omnibus)
Betsy and the Great World/Betsy’s Wedding (two-volume omnibus)

The Deep Valley Books (books about other characters in Betsy’s Crowd and town):
Carney’s House Party/Winona’s Pony Cart (two-volume omnibus)
Emily of Deep Valley