We have talked before about the benefits and joys of reading aloud books together as a family. Some of the books we read are part of the curriculum path that we are following, and some are those we stumble across at the library. From time to time I would like to share the real gems that we have found. We read this book in the second grade year for our girls, but it is written on a higher reading level, hence why it is a read-aloud book choice.
"Understood Betsy" by Dorothy Canfield Fisher is one of our all-time favorites. This is the story of a young orphan taken in by her over-protective Aunts. Sweet, young, frail Betsy lives up to every expectation her aunts have for her. She is overly excitable, timid, and physically weak. You might be too, if your guardians thought they were being loving by shielding you from any possible danger. But things take a dramatic turn for Betsy when, through a strange turn of events, she is sent to live with the dreaded country cousins up North.
In a very "Country Mouse and Town Mouse" fashion, Betsy is thrown into a world where she is asked to take on the challenge of independence. She finds it strange that people would look to her to contribute anything to the work of the farm, or school. Frail Betsy is taught to test her boundaries and face danger with courage, all the while being supported by a loving, if not overly-demonstrative set of care-givers. And not so surprisingly, Betsy learns to live up to new expectations, and even to exceed them.
Although this book will have a greater appeal to girls than boys, it is full of one-room school house adventures, and exciting emergencies to help the boys along. For the parents, it is loaded with meaningful commentary of philosophies on parenting. Dorothy Fischer not only challenges methods of child-rearing, but she is witty and entrancing in her story-telling abilities as well. I am thrilled that I get to read this book again with two more of my girls, and when they have read it, I have a feeling I will be taking it off the shelf from time to time to re-live the charm and challenge written there.
Here is one of my favorite passages from the book:
"Elizabeth Ann was alone with her much-feared Great-uncle Henry. He nodded to her and drew out from the bottom of the wagon a warm, large cape, which he slipped over her shoulders. "The women folks were afraid you'd git cold drivin'," he explained. He then lifted her high to the seat, tossed her satchel into the wagon, climbed up himself, and clucked to his horses.
Elizabeth Ann had always thought an essential part of railway journeys was to be kissed at the end and asked a great many times how you had "stood the trip." She sat still on the high lumber seat, feeling neglected. Her feet dangled high above the floor of the wagon. She felt herself to be in the most dangerous place she had ever dreamed of in her worst dreams. Oh, why wasn't Aunt Frances there to take care of her? It was just like one of her bad dreams. It was horrible! She would fall; she would roll under the wheels and be crushed to- She looked up at Uncle Henry with the wild eyes of nervous terror which always brought Aunt Frances to her in a rush to hear all about it, to sympathize, to reassure.
Uncle Henry looked down at her soberly, his hard weather-beaten old face quite unmoved. "Here, you drive, will you, for a piece?" he said. He put the reins into her hands, hooked his spectacles over his ears, an drew out a stubby pencil and a bit of paper. "I've got some figgering to do. You pull on the left-hand rein to make them go to the left and the t'other way for the right, though it ain't likely we'll meet any teams."
Elizabeth Ann had been so near one of her wild screams of terror that now, in spite of her instant absorbed interest in the reins, she gave a muffled yelp. She was all ready with the explanation. She would tell Uncle Henry about how scared she had been and how she had just been about to scream and couldn't keep back that one little yelp. But Uncle Henry seemed not to have heard her little howl, or if he had, didn't think it worth conversation, for he- Oh, the horses were certainly going to one side! She decided which was her right hand (she had never been forced to know it so quickly before) and pulled furiously on that rein. The horses turned their hanging heads, and, miraculously, there they were in the middle of the road again.
Elizabeth Ann drew a long breath of relief and pride and looked at Uncle Henry for praise. But he was busily writing down figures as though he were getting his arithmetic lesson for the next day and had not noticed. Oh, there they were going to the left again! This time, in her flurry, she made a mistake about which hand was which and pulled wildly on the left line. The docile horses walked off the road into a shallow ditch. The wagon tilted. HELP! Why didn't Uncle Henry help? Uncle Henry continued intently figuring on the back of his envelope.
Elizabeth Ann, the perspiration starting out on her forehead, pulled on the other line. The horses turned back up the slope. The wheel grated sickeningly against the wagon box. She was sure they would tip over! But there- somehow there they were in the road, safe and sound, with Uncle Henry adding up a column of figures. If he only knew, thought Elizabeth Ann, if he only knew the danger he had been in, and how he had been saved. But she must think of some way to avoid that terrible mistake again.
Suddenly something inside Elizabeth Ann's head stirred and moved. It came to her, like a clap, that she need not know which was right or left at all. If she just pulled the way she wanted to go, the horses would never know whether it was the right or the left rein.
She felt as if at that moment her brain was waking up. She was nine years old, and she was in the third grade at school, but that was the first time she had ever had a whole thought of her own. At home Aunt Frances had always know exactly what she was doing, and had helped her over the hard places before she even knew they were there. At school her teachers had been carefully trained to think faster than the scholars. Somebody had always explained things to Elizabeth Ann so industriously that she never found out a single thing for herself before. This was a small discovery, but an original one. Elizabeth Ann was excited about it as a mother bird over the first egg that hatches.
She forgot she was afraid of Uncle Henry and poured out to him her discovery. "It's not right or left that matters, " she ended with triumph, "it's which way you want to go!"
Uncle Henry looked at her attentively, eyeing her sideways over the top of one spectacle glass. "Well, now, that's so, " he admitted, and returned to his arithmetic.
It was a short remark, shorter than any Elizabeth Ann had ever heard before. Aunt Frances and her teachers always explained matters at length. But it had a weighty, satisfying ring to it. She felt the importance of having her statement recognized. She turned back to her driving."
Went to check this out on Amazon and they have a Kindle version for free!:) Yay!
ReplyDeleteWe read this book this year (6 and 8 year old children) and we loved it! My 8 year old especially enjoyed the humor of Betsy and her over protective Aunt Frances. I saw a little bit of myself in Aunt Frances! This is a wonderful read aloud which will become a favorite memory that you will share with your darlings for years to come. You can get it on interlibrary loan. Enjoy!
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