Why I Love My Job

As part of my job, I'm going to be able to reissue currently out-of-print editions of my beloved Maud Hart Lovelace's Betsy-Tacy series. Right now I'm working on transmitting the six books from Heaven to Betsy through Betsy's Wedding, which will come out in three omnibus volumes in September 2009. The books are highly autobiographical and include back matter with historical photos and documents from Maud's (Betsy's) high school years (she graduated from Mankato High in Minnesota in 1910). Today the wonderful Julie at the Betsy-Tacy Society sent me this caricature of Maud that was pasted into her high school scrapbook. You can't quite see it on this scan, but the notes next to the photo include one that points out her "naturally curly hair." For those who have read the books, you'll know that Betsy's (artificially) curled hair was one of her most prized features. The invention of the curling iron (and a lesson in what can happen if you leave it on your hair too long) play a big part in the novels.I love this drawing.

Comments

[Ti]

Remind us again when the series actually comes out. I missed the whole Besty Tacy craze but would love to get it for my daughter who just read her first book on her own yesterday!

[Kathy]

How exciting!

[Kate]

This is so neat. Did you propose the reissue?

[Book Club Girl]

Tina -- that is awesome, what book was her first solo read??

The first four books in the Betsy-Tacy series are still in print, and they begin when Betsy and Tacy are five years old. They are Betsy-Tacy, Betsy-Tacy and Tib, Betsy and Tacy Go Over the Big Hill and Betsy and Tacy Go Downtown.

The ones that we're reissuing this fall pick up in Betsy's freshman year of high school. There are four books that cover each year of high school, then one on her tour of Europe right before the outbreak of WWI and the final book is Betsy's Wedding, when she returns to the US to marry her high school sweetheart. We're reissuing those six books as three 2-book volume sets (if that makes sens).
They'll be out in September. But you can get started with the first four books right now!

And Kate, yes, when I realized the older ones were out of print, I said we had to do them! My boss sweetly complied.

[Melanie]

I loved Betsy, Tacy and Tib.

[melanie]

I'm so glad they're to be reissued! I've always wanted to read them.

[Mimi]

Squeeeeeeeee! I didn't read them as a child (other than maybe the first one or two) but read the entire series as an adult, and loved.

[Dawn - She Is Too Fond Of Books]

The power to reissue out-of-print books ... you're the real deal, no Wizard of Oz hiding behind the curtain!

I've never read them, only know of Betsy-Tacy from reading about the books on your blog. I'll check out the "in print" books before the reissues in Sept.!

[Lil]

This is good news re Betsy-Tacy. I wanted to have my book group read Heaven to Betsy in April but couldn't find enough copies.