Betsy, Tacy, and Tib discover a small immigrant community called Little Syria while exploring the Big Hill. One day, they meet and become friendly with a young girl from the community named Naifi.

Naifi does not speak English, and dresses and acts differently than the girls who live in Betsy’s neighborhood. She seems excitable, Betsy observes, and quite “darling” (p. 51, Harper Trophy paperback edition, 1993). They invite her to join their picnic, the girls begin to learn one a few words in one another’s languages, and they all just generally have a wonderful time. It is, they acknowledge, the oddest but most enjoyable picnic that they can remember.

It is difficult to know the precise number of immigrants, Syrian or otherwise, in the United States at any given point in time, but it is estimated that approximately 200,000 Syrians fleeing unrest had come to the United States by 1920, and that perhaps 100,000 have been in the U.S. in the 2020s. There was indeed a “Little Syria” of perhaps 2,000 immigrants near Mankato (Deep Valley) during the time period of the Betsy-Tacy series, many of whom were likely Lebanese. In Lovelace’s book Emily of Deep Valley, protagonist Emily Webster works for and with this immigrant community.

One day, Betsy, Tacy, and Tib happen upon a group of boys bullying Naifi — encircling her, calling her names, and pulling her hair. Tib, small but unafraid, steps in immediately to stand between Naifi and her biggest tormenter. Tacy follows bravely, and then Betsy. Order is eventually restored with the arrival of Betsy’s older sister Julia and Tacy’s older sister Katie (who intimidates everybody, apparently!), but not without some upsetting physical moments. Naifi flees, and the girls return home, shaken.

Julia tells Tib’s mother, Mrs. Muller, what happened, and why Tib’s clothes are torn and dirty. They are concerned about Mrs. Muller’s response. But Mrs. Muller, a daughter of immigrants herself, understands. She explains to the girls that the treatment Naifi endured is too often a part of the immigrant experience, and is glad that the girls are unharmed.

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On the Lebanese and Syrians in Maud Hart Lovelace’s books, see Jia Tolentino’s “The Little Syria of Deep Valley” in The New Yorker: https://www.newyorker.com/books/second-read/the-little-syria-of-deep-valley

For some statistics and more recent stories of Syrian immigrants, see https://iir.gmu.edu/immigrant-stories-dc-baltimore/syria