Understood Betsy, Dorothy Canfield Fisher
Understood Betsy, Dorothy Canfield Fisher
List: $7.99 | Sale: $5.60
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Understood Betsy

Author: Dorothy Canfield Fisher

Narrator: Bobbie Frohman

Unabridged: 4 hr 50 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 02/20/2014

Synopsis

Elizabeth Ann was orphaned at an early age and raised by her maiden aunts in the busy city. Sudden illness forces the aunts to send Betsy to other relatives, the Putnams, who live in the country on a farm. Betsy learns all about the farm and making butter and applesauce and dearly loves her new life. Then one of the aunts comes back and wants to take Betsy back to the city … such a dilemma! Children can readily relate to Betsy, a real girl in a real world where fortune seems to direct her life. She so loves being on the farm and doing all the things a farm girl does, including going to school. When fate again intervenes and tries to take her away from the life she loves, Betsy, though torn, bounds into another day of farm life, full of love for all she comes in contact with, and grows into a beautiful young lady.

About Dorothy Canfield Fisher

Dorothy Canfield Fisher (1879–1958) was a pioneer in children’s literature. In addition to writing more than fifty books for children, she was a member of the Book-of-the-Month Club and a key reviewer for the New York Times. While Ms. Fisher lived most of her life in New York City, she retained an enormous affection for the hills of Vermont, where she was raised.

About Bobbie Frohman

Bobbie Frohman, a third generation Californian, was raised in a large extended family, the niece of cowboys. Early on she developed a deep love of animals, training her dogs to perform with her at dog shows, and as a competitive barrel racer with her beloved horse, Lucky.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Hilary on May 18, 2018

Well this book has just taken the last free place on my top-ten-favourite-books-of-all-time shelf. If it wasn't for goodreads I would never have discovered this book as it's one of those well known in US and Canada but unknown here in England. This was wonderful, from the first page we were hooked, t......more

Goodreads review by Matthew on February 20, 2013

I am such a big softie. This morning, Isaac and I just finished reading Understood Betsy together (again). You might guess from the cover that manly men like Isaac and I wouldn't care for this book. You'd be wrong. Understood Betsy is a book about an overprotected girl who unhappily goes to live with......more

Goodreads review by Cindy on May 13, 2020

Loved reading this to my granddaughters on Zoom. Lots of great thoughts on over-parenting and education. I feel so blessed to have had an opportunity to read this again......more

Goodreads review by Sara on January 04, 2019

Such an interesting little read. This book felt like Little House On The Prairie meets Anne of Green Gables meets Betsy and Tacy to me. Timeless values that illustrate the resourcefulness, genuine intelligence and innate goodness of children (yes, the author is a big fan of Montessori) against a rus......more

Goodreads review by Jenne on October 20, 2007

This is like totally some kind of Montessori school propaganda, those bastards!! But it's also really sweet, it's kind of like Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm or Anne of Green Gables or something, but it's all about how to be self-sufficient and be educated at your own level and have self-confidence and s......more

Quotes

“Understood Betsy is as satisfying in its evocation of an earlier, simpler way of life as Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little House books, and psychologically more acute. Fisher is a master of presenting, in a low-key, humorous way, a ‘New Englandy’ way of doing and saying things…Understood Betsy is sure to delight a new generation of very busy, over-scheduled children whose own chances for early independence and initiative are limited. It may even teach their parents a thing or two about the best way to raise a child.” New York Times Book Review

“Anyone who fondly remembers how the fresh air of the moors puts a blush in the cheeks of sallow young Mary in The Secret Garden will love Dorothy Canfield Fisher’s Understood Betsy just as much…Fisher is a wise, personable storyteller.” Amazon.com, editorial review

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