Betsy experiences her first two big crushes in Heaven to Betsy. Both Tony and Joe will intrigue her and to some extent compete for her throughout the high school books. When Betsy meets Joe Willard at Butternut Center, she is immediately taken with his wit and good looks. But when Betsy first encounters Tony Markham at the Christian Endeavor social hour sponsored by the town’s Presbyterian church (presided over by Betsy’s new friend Bonnie Andrews), she is thunderstruck. He is charming, handsome, cool, slightly older, and new in town: the epitome of the “Tall, Dark Stranger” that she had dreamed of someday meeting.

When Tony visits the Ray house, he is warmly welcomed and feels instantly at home. Tony and Julia sing duets around the piano; with Herbert and Cab, he becomes a fixture in the kitchen, especially at Sunday Night Lunch; and perhaps most endearingly, Tony and Betsy’s younger sister Margaret become fast friends. Soon, Tony is all that Betsy can think about. But Tony only sees Betsy as a sister; his romantic feelings are for Bonnie. Betsy’s heart breaks time and again throughout the book as she tries and fails to get him to notice her as more than a friend.

Teenage romance was a prevalent theme in the young adult literature of the 1940s-1960s. Popular novelists of the era, including Rosamond duJardin, Betty Cavanna, Anne Emery, Beverly Clearly, and Janet Lambert created evocative, finely drawn worlds in which heroines experienced a (usually chaste) love for the very first time. Often in series format, these books offered their young readers a glimpse of a slightly more adult life toward which they might aspire. Maud Hart Lovelace’s realistic and heart-wrenching portrayals of teenage love, friendship, and growth place her among the most important of these wonderful authors.

Betsy, Tony, and Joe will cross paths often through the high school books. Betsy’s tempestuous crush on Tony is most prominent in this book, while her feelings for Joe develop more slowly and gradually throughout the remainder of the series. Betsy and Joe have more in common than Betsy and Tony, which turns out to matter! They share a love of writing and literature and ideas, and are selected as the freshman class representatives to compete in the important year-end Essay Contest.

Betsy spends more time at parties than she does at the library reading about the present and future value of the Phillipines, the topic on which she must become expert for the contest. When Joe offers to walk Betsy home after a study session in the library, and even suggests that he might share some of what he has learned about the Phillipines, he is rebuffed when Tony arrives to walk her home. This is not the first time that Joe and Betsy have crossed signals, and it won’t be the last.

To Betsy’s dismay, Tony’s intentions toward Betsy still aren’t romantic; Cab and Herbert join them for the goofy, rambunctious walk home. And soon Betsy will realize that her feelings for Tony are nothing more than friendship as well, and that she allowed her social life to thoroughly displace academics this year. Betsy loses handily to Joe in the Essay Contest, and with overwhelming regret, vows that she will prioritize her writing going forward….a critical step into a more fulfilling future.

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For an overview of teen romance novelists of the era, see Carolyn Steele Agosta’s blog: https://www.carolynsteeleagosta.com/post/sweet-teen-romance-novels-1940s-1960s#:~:text=A%20few%20other%20popular%20authors,them%20humiliating%20and%20’mushy’.