Betsy-Tacy

The Betsy-Tacy series is a collection of books written by Maud Hart Lovelace between 1940 and 1955. The books are written at progressively more difficult reading levels as the characters age. They follow the adventures of Betsy Ray and her friends and family from the time that Betsy turns five until she is in her early twenties. They take place in the very late 19th and early 20th centuries.

As the series progresses, the cast of characters grows larger and the plots progress to reflect the changing concerns of the characters. In the first two books, the action is mainly confined to the "Hill Street" neighborhood that is home to the three main characters, Betsy, Tacy, and Tib. In books three and four, the girls' world becomes a bit larger and they have several adventures in new parts of town.

In Heaven to Betsy, the characters begin high school, and this book and the next three books (Betsy in Spite of Herself, Betsy Was a Junior, and Betsy and Joe) each cover a year of high school life. Plots in these books tend to involve schoolwork (such as the Essay Contest, which features in all four of these books) and romances. Betsy and the Great World takes Betsy on a tour of Europe, and Betsy's Wedding covers the first few years of Betsy's marriage. Betsy is a storyteller from the beginning and considers herself a writer from the time of Betsy and Tacy Go Downtown. Later books deal significantly with her progress and success in writing and publishing stories.

Almost all of the characters in this series are based on the family and friends of Maud Hart Lovelace. Betsy Ray is based on Lovelace herself. Many of the incidents in the books actually happened to Lovelace, with the significant exception of Betsy's relationship with Joe Willard. Although Joe is based on Maud's husband, Delos Lovelace, Maud and Delos did not meet until their late twenties.

Most of the novels take place largely in and around the fictional town of Deep Valley, Minnesota, which is based on the author's actual hometown of Mankato, Minnesota. The books in the series also mention other real places in the United States, such as Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where the character Tib Muller lives for a time.

As of 1992, only the first four books were still in print. A letter writing campaign to the Harper Collins publishing house organized by The Betsy-Tacy Society, a group of mostly adult Betsy-Tacy fans, led to all of the Betsy-Tacy books being reprinted. By 2006, several of the later books had gone out of print again, but three new editions (in 2009) by Harper Perennial Modern Classics feature pairings of the final six books, with forewords by authors who remember the stories fondly and illustrated notes on the books and Lovelace herself.

In the 1998 film You've Got Mail, bookstore owner Kathleen Kelly (Meg Ryan) describes the first two books of the series to young Annabel Fox (Hallee Hirsh), who immediately decides she wants them all.