January 12, 2010 @ 6:09 pm | Filed under: Books
April 2010 UPDATE: Check out the beautiful new covers!
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The first wave of news alone was enough to make me shriek with joy—
Fresh on the heels of those swoony reissues of the high-school-and-beyond Betsy-Tacy books, HarperPerennial is bringing back Emily of Deep Valley.
And Carney’s House Party—and Winona’s Pony Cart—these two together in one delicious tome.
You know how much this thrills me. I love Emily so much I actually bought four copies of the last printing to squirrel away for my daughters, just in case she disappeared from bookstores altogether. But now I can give those as presents, perhaps, because there will be these lovely new editions out before too long.
Like I said, that news alone made my week. But the icing on the cake?
I’ve been asked to write the foreword for the Carney/Winona book.
Can you hear me smile? I am so honored. I’m pretty much over the moon!
I had just the same reaction Mitali Perkins did when she read the note from HarperPerennial’s Jennifer Hart, asking her to write the foreword for Emily of Deep Valley:
I re-read the email, heart racing, tears blurring my eyes. The veggie burger guy watched with a look of concern as I managed to word this response on my iPhone:
Do you know how much I love Emily of Deep Valley? I have re-read it countless times since I discovered it as a newcomer to this country years ago in the Flushing library.
I am honored, thrilled, ecstatic, over-the-top, doing-a-Bollywood-Dance delighted.
Oh, Mitali, I hear you. Heart racing, teary-eyed, all of it. Carney’s House Party is one of my favorite of Maud Hart Lovelace’s books—I love how honestly Carney grapples with the complicated process of sorting out her college self from her hometown self. And who doesn’t love Winona Root? As I told Jennifer, the older my girls get, the more I enjoy the Winona in them—the devilish twinkle in the eye, the zest for fun and adventure.
Well, this is very, very exciting. Couldn’t be happier. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to go reread Carney. For the dozenth time.
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Congratulations! I saw Mitali Perkins’ announcement on Twitter and wondered if you had something similar to say after your hint yesterday. I can’t wait to read your words and have the chance to own these fantastic books.
Posted on January 13th, 2010 at 3:49 amThat’s so exciting! Congratulations to you, first off! But I’m thrilled to be able to buy a copy or two of Emily (I just read it last fall online). We have Carney’s House Party, but i haven’t read it for some reason, nor Winona’s Pony Cart.
I’m happy to be able to buy a whole set for my 2nd girl.
Posted on January 13th, 2010 at 4:01 amI am so excited for these reissues! I read all the Betsy-Tacy books over and over as a child, but didn’t read the “satellites” until I was an adult. So I need to re-read them about a million times each to make up for it.
Posted on January 13th, 2010 at 6:15 amHow exciting! I already have Emily but am so excited to buy Carney and Winona now—and even more excited since you’ll be doing the forward. Congratulations!
Posted on January 13th, 2010 at 7:49 amCongratulations! I love Carney, too; her college life always seemed impressively “real” to me. I look forward to reading what you have to say.
Posted on January 13th, 2010 at 7:58 amMelissa, I almost got tears in my eyes reading this post! I love the Carney, Emily, and Winona Deep Valley books, especially Carney and *most* especially Emily, which I re-read without fail at least once a year (though come to think of it, I probably re-read Carney just as often). I am so excited that you will be writing the foreword for Carney/Winona. What an amazing honor!
And I confess I did *not* squirrel away copies of Emily when it was last reprinted (silly me) meaning that my only copy is still the treasured but definitely aging ex-library copy I found in a used bookstore years ago. I don’t know why I didn’t jump on buying the paperback reprint several years back…I guess I assumed it would be around longer. So I’m thrilled with this news and will definitely be squirreling this time around, including setting aside one for my daughter (she’s seven and already loves B-T, but we’ve only gotten up through Tib thus far…)
Posted on January 13th, 2010 at 9:21 amOh, how exciting! Congratulations! And I’m so glad that Carney will be reissued. I’m excited about Emily too, but I already own that one.
(So, entirely selfish motives here.)
Posted on January 13th, 2010 at 9:58 amCongratulations, Melissa!
Here’s another longtime Betsy-Tacy fan checking in, all atwitter (except on Twitter) about the newest releases of Carney’s House Party, Emily of Deep Valley, and Winona’s Pony Cart. I squirreled away extra copies of the last reissue of Emily and Carney and Winona, too. Emily is my favorite, but only because Carney’s House Party and Winona’s Pony Cart weren’t available when I was growing up back in the dark ages.
Carney’s House Party was available at the Minneapolis Public Library, but you couldn’t check it out; you had to read it there. So I skipped school one day, took a bus “Downtown” and did just that!
I love Carney’s House Party more and more each time I read it.
So happy you’ll be writing the foreword to Maud’s story.
Posted on January 13th, 2010 at 10:28 amAll I have to say is your blog is dangerous to my book budget!
More to add to my Amazon wish list.
Posted on January 14th, 2010 at 10:30 amI found your web site when I was browsing for something not related at all, but this page was one of the first sites listed in Bing, your website must be insanely popular! Keep up the awesome job!
Posted on February 2nd, 2010 at 3:48 pmThis Week Was — Here in the Bonny Glen says:
[...] • thinking and thinking about Carney and Winona [...]
Posted on February 5th, 2010 at 8:19 amWoot! I’m so excited for you! I’m so excited for us!
My daughter Avila (7- she is only allowed to read Betsy-Tacy and the second one) and I love these books!
Posted on February 5th, 2010 at 10:47 amTop 100 Children’s Novels (#70-66) « A Fuse #8 Production says:
[...] House Party (1949), Emily of Deep Valley (1950), and Winona’s Pony Cart (1953), are all to be re-released as well. Mitali Perkins writes the forward for Emily of Deep [...]
Posted on May 30th, 2010 at 11:44 pm