Tag Archives: semi-autobiographical

A children’s series that ages with its audience: Betsy and Tacy Go Over the Big Hill captures 10 year old life well

Betsy and Tacy Go Over the Big Hill is the third in Maud Hart Lovelace’s Betsy-Tacy series. The girls are now 10 years old and the largely standalone chapters of the first two books smoothly transition into larger story arcs … Continue reading

Posted in 10 years and up, 20th Century Children's, 7 years and up, American, Children's, Children's Classic, Children's Classics, Coming of Age/Rites of Passage, Fiction, Historical Fiction, Novel, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Climbing trees, cutting your own hair and making messes with all the things you find in the kitchen: Maud Hart Lovelace’s second Betsy-Tacy book beautifully captures the experience of being 8 years old

Betsy-Tacy and Tib continues Maud Hart Lovelace’s engaging series of early 20th century American childhood. Betsy, Tacy and their new friend Tib are now 8-year-olds. Life is full of adventures, often with their genesis in Betsy’s fertile imagination. In this … Continue reading

Posted in 20th Century Children's, 5 years and up, American, Children's Classics, Novel | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Capturing childhood: Betsy-Tacy by Maud Hart Lovelace

I recently discovered Maud Hart Lovelace’s Betsy-Tacy series doing a literature-map search of Laura Ingalls Wilder. Similarly, Lovelace’s series draws on her own American childhood and the target audience ages with the protagonists. In the first book, Betsy-Tacy, the girls … Continue reading

Posted in 20th Century Children's, 5 years and up, American, Children's Classics, Coming of Age/Rites of Passage | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Spending time with a delightful dead guy: The Essays of Elia by Charles Lamb

I was curious about Charles Lamb after references to him in Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society and I was surprised at how enjoyable The Essays of Elia and The Last Essays of Elia actually were. Published in magazines … Continue reading

Posted in 18th Century, Arts Criticism, Biography/Autobiography, Essays, General adult audience, Miscellaneous Non-Fiction, Social Commentary/Analysis, Travel and Geography Non-Fiction | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

These Happy Golden Years by Laura Ingalls Wilder

These Happy Golden Years by Laura Ingalls Wilder is the last of the Little House books that Wilder completed and also my favourite. At the end of Little Town on the Prairie Laura received her teaching certificate. Now Laura has … Continue reading

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Little Town on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder

Little Town on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder continues the Little House books. The Long Winter is over, the prairie is filling up and Laura is old enough to get summer work sewing in the growing town. When winter … Continue reading

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The Long Winter by Laura Ingalls Wilder

The Long Winter by Laura Ingalls Wilder is the 5th of the Little House series about Laura’s pioneering childhood on the American prairies. It tells of the winter when the blizzards are so early, long and severe that the trains … Continue reading

Posted in 20th Century Children's, 7 years and up, Children's Classics | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Henrietta’s War and Henrietta Sees It Through by Joyce Dennys

Henrietta’s War by Joyce Dennys and its sequel, Henrietta Sees it Through, are a series of letters to a childhood friend during WWII. They document the small and amusing indignities and challenges of life in a “safe part of England” … Continue reading

Posted in 20th Century Light Fiction, British, Comedy, Episodic Novel, Epistolary Novel, General adult audience, Light Fiction, Novel, Social Novel, War Story | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment