"If you're going to be a writer..."

A (grown-up) Betsy illustration by Vera Neville. Source HERE.

"But if you're going to be a writer," he went on, "you've got to read. Good books. Great books. The classics. And fortunately ... that's what I'm driving at ... Deep Valley has a new Carnegie Library, almost ready to open. White marble building, sunny, spick and span, just full of books."- Mr. Ray to his daughter Betsy


If you've followed my blog for any amount of time, you can probably guess how thrilled I was to come across this quote in BETSY AND TACY GO DOWNTOWN (the fourth book from one of my favorite series, by Maud Hart Lovelace) about libraries (one of my favorite places) and "good" books (obviously one of my favorite pastimes).

Illustration by Lois Lenski of Betsy at the Library,
from BETSY AND TACY GO DOWNTOWN.

If you'd like to read about and see pictures of the real life Carnegie Library in Mankato (Deep Valley), click here to go to the Betsy-Tacy Encyclopedia Blog.


You can also stop by and read my past post about the Betsy Tacy books HERE, in "Chapter Books My Daughter Loved".

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO LOIS LENSKI (1893-1974)

Summer's over,

Now it's fall;

Just the nicest 

Time of all.

Down,

   down,

        down,

Leaves of red and gold and brown

Come falling,

              falling 

                    down.

Lois Lenski's life was a balance of family and career. Her close family and small town upbringing provided a strong foundation and served as an influence in all she did. Mrs. Lenski wrote and illustrated over 100 books - in addition to illustrating another sixty or so written by other authors. Some that I've blogged about are her MR. SMALL books (3-7) and the Betsy-Tacy series (ages 5 and up) that she illustrated by Maud Hart Lovelace.

Have you seen her (now out of print) DAVY books? I think they are adorable. She wrote them about her grandson.

To read more about Lois Lenski's life and see a list of all her books, CLICK HERE.
Source reference:  Milner Library, Illinois State University.