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BOLTS FROM THE BLUE!

The Mankato Free Press published an article about students visiting Tacy's House. Read it here.

Kris Koebler's 5th grade class from Collegiate School in Richmond, Virginia held their 5th annual bake sale and raised $300 for the restoration of Betsy's house. Read the wonderful comments from the children about the Betsy-Tacy books here. The Mankato Free Press published an article about the class here.

The March 17, 2008 issue of The New Yorker has a profile of playwright Sarah Ruhl, who counts the Betsy-Tacy books as an influence on her work. Make sure to see the last paragraph of the article! Read it here.

The Mankato Free Press published an article about Tacy's Victorian Christmas on December 2, 2007. Read it here.

BTS member Kendra Daniel's collection of Children's Illustration was exhibited at the Brandywine River Museum, and is featured in Journal of Antiques and Collectibles.

The Mankato Free Press published an article about our 2007 Annual Meeting, which was held at the Hoehn Family Farm at Madison Lake (Murmuring Lake home where Bob and Jule Ray were married).

In Newsweek magazine (May 21, 2007), author Laura Lippman lists her 5 most important books:

#5 The Betsy-Tacy novels by Maud Hart Lovelace, especially Betsy in Spite of Herself. She says "there are two kinds of women: those who know these books (including Anna Quindlen and Bette Midler) and those who don't."

We are saddened to report the death of longtime Lois Lenski collaborator and BTS friend Clyde Robert Bulla, on May 24, 2007 at the age of 93. You can read his obituary in the Kansas City Star here, and in the LA Times here. He certainly led a long and interesting life, and we will miss him.

The May 2007 issue of Antiques & Collecting Magazine featured an article called Betsy-Tacy: A Timeless Tale of Friendship by Jeanette Michalets. Maud Hart Lovelace’s fictionalized version of her own childhood is as real to readers today as it was more than 100 years ago.

The BTS is mentioned in a feature article in Minnesota Monthly magazine's April 2007 issue. It's called  24 Ways to Get Lost…and Find Yourself.  The article can be found here.

An article in Child Magazine's April 2007 issue mentions the Betsy-Tacy series and there is a photo of Heaven to Betsy. It can be viewed here.

Carlienne Frisch has written several magazine articles about Maud and the restoration of Betsy's and Tacy's houses:
Maud Hart Lovelace (pdf)
A New Chapter for Betsy-Tacy (pdf)

Simply Minnesota magazine has published an article about the restoration of Betsy's and Tacy's houses in their current issue. Their website is at http://www.simplyminnesota.com.

The winners are in! We got some wonderful entries for our "Save Betsy and Tacy's House drawing contest. You can see the results here.

The Betsy-Tacy Society accepted donations through the month of June 2006 for Kelsie’s Books, a nonprofit fund set up by 11-year-old Kelsie Buckley of Mississippi. Thanks to your generous donations, we raised $500 for Kelsie's Books and sent 160 copies to Kelsie for her program!

You may have seen Kelsie’s story on CBS news: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/03/31/eveningnews/main1461732.shtml

Kelsie, who has a disease causing her to slowly go blind, is raising money for books in response to the need of Mississippi libraries destroyed by Hurricane Katrina.

In Memoriam: Shirley Lieske and Doris Pagel

BTS in the News
Free Press article on Book Festival
Mankato Free Press 9/11/05
Mankato Free Press 9/2/05

Thanks to Julie Schrader's detective work, we've learned that the stove the Ray/Hart family had was a “Favorite Baseburner” model. The Good Time Stove Company in Goshen, Massachusetts has kindly provided us with information and pictures of a similar stove.

“The fire glowed red through the isinglass windows of the big hard coal heater. It shone on the wild horses’ heads which ran in a procession around the shining nickel trim. Up on the warming ledge the tea kettle was singing.”

Happy News from Peggy Kirch, Tacy's Granddaughter:

It is with great pleasure that we announce on behalf of 
her mother Marisa and father Ivan the birth of
ANASTASIA ELIZABETH, TO BE CALLED TACY. 
She was born on August 12th at 1:33p.m 
weighing 7lbs. 15 oz. and 20 in. long. 

Marisa is the great granddaughter of the real Tacy (the redhead many of
the convention attendees met 2 yrs. ago daughter of Elizabeth Anne
Kirch, another redhead and one of my sisters.

Tacy's room is decorated with beautifully mounted and framed
illustrations from the original books, and we can hardly wait to start reading to her!

For questions about the Betsy-Tacy Society please contact us at: 
Membership@Betsy-TacySociety.org
Note: you must copy and paste the email address into your email program 
rather than merely clicking on it to email us; unfortunately we have had to 
remove the email hyperlink because it generates so much spam!