Betsy-Tacy by Maud Hart Lovelace, 1940.

This is the first book in a series about two best friends growing up in Minnesota around the turn of the 20th century. The stories in this book and the rest of the series are based on the author’s own childhood experiences with her best friend.

At the beginning of the book, Betsy meets her best friend, Tacy (short for Anastacia), for the first time after Tacy’s family moves into a house nearby when the girls are both about five years old.  Tacy is very shy and doesn’t want to talk to Betsy at first.  It isn’t until Betsy’s fifth birthday party, a short time later, that the girls really get to know each other and become friends.  After that, they are inseparable, almost to the point where people begin to think of them as one person, Betsy-Tacy. 

Each of the chapters in the book is a short story.  Some of them are about everyday things, like how Betsy would make up stories about her and her friend, how the girls would play dress up and paper dolls, or how they would have a “store” and sell bottles of colored sand to their friends.  Some of the stories are touching, as the girls help each other through some of the most important times of their young lives.  Betsy, the more out-going one, helps shy Tacy through the trauma of their first day of school.  Tacy, who has many brothers and sisters, reassures Betsy that everything will be alright when Betsy’s younger sister is born.  Both girls struggle to come to terms with the death of Tacy’s baby sister. 

At the end of the story, the girls make a new friend when a family moves into the chocolate-colored house with the stained glass window that the girls had always admired.

In the 60^th anniversary edition of the book, there are pictures of the author and her best friend, Bick, who is the model for Tacy in the stories, and pictures of the author’s family.  There is also a description of the author’s early life and how the stories were based off her recollections of her own childhood.

This book is available to borrow for free online through Internet Archive.