By Sara Gilbert Frederick, Special to The Free Press
Jennifer Hart was a little worried that Mankato wouldn’t live up to her Deep Valley expectations.
Hart read all of Maud Hart Lovelace’s Betsy-Tacy books as a young girl growing up on the East Coast. She so loved the series that when it came to her attention that they were out of print, Hart, a vice president and assistant publisher with Harper Perennial in New York City, suggested that her publishing house consider re-releasing some of them.
“I wanted to put these books alongside titles like ‘A Tree Grows in Brooklyn’ and ‘To Kill a Mockingbird,’ which have also been re-released,” Hart said. “They deserve a place there.”
But even as she spearheaded that project, she had no idea what Deep Valley actually looked like.
Then she heard about the Betsy-Tacy Society’s convention in Mankato this summer. And she decided that the time was right for a trip.
“I was nervous that it wouldn’t fit with the mental image I had,” Hart admitted. “I had overly prepared myself for it to not look anything like I expected it to, but I was pleasantly surprised when I got there.”
Many of the approximately 200 attendees at that conference were also pleasantly surprised by the news Hart shared with them: Six Betsy-Tacy books — “Heaven to Betsy,” “Betsy in Spite of Herself,” “Betsy was a Junior,” “Betsy and Joe,” “Betsy and the Great World” and “Betsy’s Wedding” — are being re-released by Harper Perennial Modern Classics and will be available for sale both locally and nationwide starting Tuesday.
Although Hart appreciated the opportunity to explore one of her favorite author’s homes during the convention, she was also delighted to meet so many people who share her feelings about the books — and her enthusiasm for the re-release.
“I feel like I was able to meet an entire Betsy-Tacy army,” Hart said. “We can all work together to make things happen.”
Hart and Harper Perennial are relying heavily on that army to help promote the new books.
Fans are hosting “Betsy-Tacy Parties” at homes and bookstores around the country — including an event at the Betsy-Tacy houses in Mankato at 1 p.m. Saturday. The party will include re-enactors in costume singing songs around the piano just as they did in the Betsy-Tacy books, said Julie Schrader, the executive director of the Betsy-Tacy Society.
A launch party is also planned at the Red Balloon Bookstore in St. Paul on Nov. 8. At least seven other events are scheduled in cities in California, New York and Texas.
The Betsy-Tacy army includes some heavy-hitters as well. The re-released titles, which are bound together into a series of three books, are endorsed with forewords by famous Lovelace fans: Anna Quindlen, Meg Cabot and Laura Lippman.
Cabot, who spoke of her affection for Lovelace at the convention this summer, was honored to contribute a foreword for one of the editions.
“I was so excited and flattered to be asked,” she said. “I got to write about some of my favorite books of all time, and there’s no greater pleasure than that.”
Quindlen likewise considers it an honor to help pass the books she grew up reading to a new generation.
“I had an aunt and some librarians and a couple of nuns who took the time to recommend books for me, among them the Betsy-Tacy books,” she says. “And I take the time to recommend books for other young readers. Pay it forward, and all that. It’s nothing but a pleasure.”
The books are definitely still a pleasure to Hart, who is currently re-reading “Heaven to Betsy.” And this time, she can picture the scenes more clearly in her head.
“Now I can understand how far she has to walk to school,” Hart says. “I can understand where she’s going when she says she goes down to Carney’s house. I was right there.”
