I’m pleased to announce a partnership with the Betsy-Tacy Society in Mankato that will allow folks who come to LauraPalooza this summer to get a taste of Deep Valley!
Costumed volunteers will join our residential attendees for Wednesday nights ice cream social, and Julie Shrader, executive director of the Betsy-Tacy Society, is planning family activities for Friday morning, July 16, of the conference, to run concurrently with educator and craft workshops. In the works? A walking tour of Betsy’s neighborhood, with young Betsy escorting her new friend Laura around her town, storytelling, and other surprises.
Additionally, the Betsy-Tacy houses will be open for tours and other activities, including a visit from illustrator Cheryl Harness, on Saturday afternoon.
Betsy and Tacy, the two little girls at the heart of the series of books written by Mankato native Maud Hart Lovelace, were based on Maud and her childhood best friend, Bick. The two lived across the street from each other in Mankato, and these houses have been lovingly restored by the society. A third friend, known as Tib in the books, lived around the corner and down the street from Betsy and Tacy. Her childhood home is currently for sale, and the society hopes to purchase it.
The Betsy-Tacy books are all currently in print, and the final six books were recently reissued in new editions with forewards from famous fans of the books such as Anna Quindlen.
Since Maud wrote her books just after Laura wrote hers, Maud is said to have refused to read the Little House books in order to avoid any accusations of plagiarism. Both women wrote about young girls and women growing up in the Midwest. One story suggests that Maud, then living in California, waited until she was completely finished with the series, then went to her library to say, “NOW I can read the Wilder books.”
I can only hope she enjoyed them!
Join us in Deep Valley this summer.
I’m so excited that LIW fans will learn about Betsy-Tacy during Laurapalooza. I loved both series growing up (tho definitely lean towards BT more) but Maud’s and Laura’s lives were so different that I’m surprised to hear that Maud kept herself from reading them for fear of copying anything (a great tidbit btw). What I love about Little House are the details of life lived literally on the prairie and all the old-fashioned things that Laura did. What I love about Betsy-Tacy is how very modern Betsy’s life seems – it’s the early 1900s and the kids in high school are driving around in autos, hanging out in a big Crowd of friends and acting very much like teenagers- yes they’re set in the past (and I love those details too) but in so many ways, so very current. That fascinated me when I first read them, and still does today as I reread them.
Oh I LOVE the Betsy Tacy books… I never read them till I was an adult but they were great. They were set in that magical WWI era … which seems long enough ago to be old fashioned yet modern enough to be livable. As much as I wanted to go back and time and live in the Little House era… what a shock that would be. But WWI America… not so shocking. I feel like that must have been such a magical peaceful cozy time to live.