''Betsy-Tacy and Tib'' (1941) is the second volume in the

Betsy-Tacy The ''Betsy-Tacy ''books are a series of semi-autobiographical novels by American novelist and short-story writer Maud Hart Lovelace (1892-1980), which were originally published between 1940 and 1955 by the Thomas Y. Crowell Co. The books are now ...

series by

Maud Hart Lovelace Maud Hart Lovelace (April 25, 1892 – March 11, 1980) was an American writer best known for the Betsy-Tacy series. Early life Maud Palmer Hart was born in Mankato, Minnesota to Tom Hart, a shoe store owner, and his wife, Stella (née Palmer) ...

. The book, along with the entire ''Betsy-Tacy'' and ''Deep Valley'' series, was republished in 2000 by

HarperTrophy HarperCollins Publishers LLC is one of the Big Five English-language publishing companies, alongside Penguin Random House, Simon & Schuster, Hachette, and Macmillan. The company is headquartered in New York City and is a subsidiary of News Corp ...

with a new cover art illustrated by Michael Koelsch.

Plot

Betsy, Tacy, and Tib are three eight-year-old girls who live in Deep Valley, Minnesota. At a carnival, they are mesmerized by the Flying Lady. When they learn that her act used a see-saw, they put on a show for their neighbors, recreating the act with a see-saw they assemble themselves. The three girls and Tib's brother Freddie build a playhouse in Tib's basement, using her family's store of firewood. Tib's father convinces them to demolish the playhouse by reenacting the fable of

The Three Little Pigs "The Three Little Pigs" is a fable about three pigs who build three houses of different materials. A Big Bad Wolf blows down the first two pigs' houses which made of straw and sticks respectively, but is unable to destroy the third pig's house t ...

with the little girls as the pigs and Freddie as the wolf. When Betsy's mother allows Betsy, Tacy, and Tib to stay at the house by themselves, they amuse themselves by cooking a dish Betsy calls Everything. They put a little of every ingredient in the kitchen into the pot. After tasting the results, they toss it out, but that night, all three have stomach-aches. Betsy, Tacy, and Tib explore Tib's house by looking into mirrors, calling the rooms that they see in the mirrors part of the Mirror Palace. After Tacy recovers from a bout of

diphtheria Diphtheria is an infection caused by the bacterium '' Corynebacterium diphtheriae''. Most infections are asymptomatic or have a mild clinical course, but in some outbreaks more than 10% of those diagnosed with the disease may die. Signs and s ...

, the girls decide to cut off locks of their hair so they each have a keepsake of the others. They cut off one of Betsy's braids, half of Tacy's long red ringlets, and half of Tib's yellow curls, and divide the hair into pillboxes that they can each wear as lockets. Their parents are furious until they hear the girls' reasoning which makes them laugh. Tib's mother cuts of the rest of the girls' hair to even it up. Annoyed that their older sisters created a club that they were left out of, Betsy, Tacy, and Tib form The Christian Kindness Club. The club is supposed to encourage good behavior by punishing bad behavior. The girls end up competing to do more bad behavior than the others.

References

Betsy-Tacy 1941 American novels Novels set in Minnesota 1941 children's books Thomas Y. Crowell Co. books {{1940s-child-novel-stub