"B" Is for Betsy
Acceptable with guidance. Age: 7+. A Catholic review of this book for parents.
Our review
Nothing much happens here, and that is the point. A little girl learns that school is safe, friends are a gift, and helping a neighbor feels good. The adults are kind and in charge. The one reservation is age: it was written in 1939, and readers report a stereotyped organ grinder and a dated Thanksgiving lesson about Indians.
For parents
Read aloud from 5, independent reading from 7. Good for a child nervous about starting school. Ask what Betsy was afraid of and what turned out to be true. When the organ grinder and the Indian village chapters come up, say plainly that every person is made in God's image (CCC 1934).