A timeless treasure to be shared October 5th

Hello, my lovely readers all,

The State of Minnesota Arts and Cultural Legacy Grant has another terrific program for you coming up on Tuesday, Oct. 5th at 6:00 PM at The Warehouse in Pine River. This time it is a portrayal of Maud Hart Lovelace (1892-1980), a well know Minnesota author, as interpreted by Laurie Johnson from the Minnesota Historical Society.

Vera Neville, author of the “Princess Diary” series says of Ms. Lovelace’s Betsy-Tacy series, “Slipping into a Betsy book is like slipping into a favorite pair of well-worn slippers. It’s always a pleasure to live in Betsy’s world for a little while…” The Betsy-Tacy series of books begins with children’s books as Betsy enters school and continues on to the end of high school years. These books, written in the 1940’s, are timeless. [They’d better be. That’s a couple of generations back for most of you and a whole lot of generations for a lowly feline like myself. ] The books are loosely autobiographical. Here’s a quote from betsy-tacysociety.org:

“In 1938 Maud began writing Betsy-Tacy, inspired by the oft-repeated stories about her childhood that she told Merian [her daughter] at bedtime. The book was wildly successful, and the rest of the series followed at a steady pace. The only pause came after Betsy and Joe, when Maud wasn't sure what to do next. Having not completed college herself, she didn't feel comfortable sending Betsy—but she could send Carney! And then after writing Emily of Deep Valley, Maud came to believe that a trip to Europe was surely as educational as going to college, so the next two books followed without a hitch. For Betsy's Wedding, Maud was especially delighted to be writing about Delos [her husband] over a period of time when she actually knew him.”

“Google” Maud Hart Lovelace and learn all about this extraordinary woman and her times. Then, come live for a while in the not so distant past and “speak” with an author well loved and long remembered.

Happy Reading!

Browser, the library cat

Printed in the Pine River Journal 30 Sept 2010