Heaven to Betsy by Maud Hart Lovelace. Harper Collins. 1945.
The Betsy-Tacy series actually follows the character Betsy Ray and her best friends Tacy Kelly and Tib Muller from kindergarten to after college. However, Heaven to Betsy is the first book in which the characters enter high school. There are many things appealing about the series, and this book in particular. The books are actually so popular that a society has been created in the series's honor.
One thing that is so appealing is the heirloom quality of the book. Like the Nancy Drew series many adults have read the Betsy-Tacy series giving them something to relate with to tweens who have also read the series. Also, more than anything Betsy wants to be a writer. She loves to read. When they first meet she jumps into a cozy rapport with the character Joe Willard (who at the end of the series will become her husband) over The Three Musketeers. However, she is never labeled a nerd. She just happens to like English class. Yes, the content is pre-second wave feminism, but there is something nice about a female main character who is not always striving to be perfect at everything, perfect grades, perfect social life, perfect morals-something that I think is more of a pressure for tween girls than tweens boys. Finally, because the books take place at the turn of the century the characters seem to be treated more like adults at the young age of fourteen. Something tweens can identify with. Their romantic relationships are taken more seriously and they are given more independence to a certain degree, because in many ways life is simpler and in others ways they have to be mature sooner.
A telling thing about the story line of this book is that the more things change, the more things stay the same. When you're an older tween it's still your family, your group of friends, the happenings at school and maybe most of all your best friends that shape who you are and ready you for your life after high school.
Good for tween girls from 7th to 9th grade. The earlier books in the series are appropriate for younger kids.
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