Very Big Betsy-Tacy News
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.