Thanks so much to Mitali Perkins and Melissa Wiley for joining me for what I think was the fastest hour of my life as we discussed all things Maud Hart Lovelace and Betsy-Tacy! And thank you to all the listeners who joined in and commented and asked questions. We had a blast and hope that you did too.
There were some great questions during the show, including what books a young girl can read if she's in between the early Betsy books and the high school ones - recommendations included the All-of-a-Kind Family, The Melendy Quartet, Anastasia Krupnik, Beverly Cleary, the Penderwicks and books by Laurel Snyder.
Another listener wanted to know what other series, like Betsy-Tacy, follow the characters from a young age to adulthood and we recommended Anne of Green Gables, Harry Potter, Louisa May Alcott's books and, for their great depiction of the teen years, Madeline L'Engle's books, especially the Austin Family series. (I know I've forgotten series and titles, so please add in the comments!)
As promised, here are links to many of the things we discussed:
The Betsy-Tacy Convention - scheduled for July 19-22 in Minneapolis and Mankato, MN
The Betsy-Tacy Society - join!
Maud L listserv - for details on how to join, let me know in the comments that you're interested and I'll email you
Mitali Perkins' blog
Melissa Wiley's blog
For more background information on Maud Hart Lovelace and the Betsy-Tacy and Deep Valley books, I encourage you to check out these three books:
Maud Hart Lovelace's Deep Valley by Julie Schrader
The Betsy-Tacy Companion by Sharla Scannell Whalen
Future in a Handbasket: The Life and Letters Behind Carney's House Party by Amy Dolnick
Those of you in the Southern California area, head over to Readers Inc bookstore this Saturday, Nov. 20th at 3 pm to see Melissa Wiley discuss Carney's House Party and WInona's Pony Cart and Maud in general. You can get a free Betsy-Tacy tote bag with every Lovelace purchase!
If you're at NCTE this week (National Council of Teachers of English) visit the Harper booth #820-22 at 3:30 on Friday the 19th where Mitali will be signing Emily and there are totes there too!
And look for Mitali, Melissa and me at the mid-winter ALA (American Library Association) Conference in January of 2011.
Listen in to the show now - did I mention there was a lightning round?
