Betsy and the Boys

Betsy and the Boys is Carolyn Haywood's fourth book about Betsy. Now in the fourth grade, Betsy has become fast friends with Billy Porter. When the Wilson brothers invite Billy, but not Betsy, to join their football team, Betsy's feelings are hurt. The boys' football is so ancient and battered that air won't stay in it, and they plan to earn a new one by selling twenty-four cakes of mail-order flea soap. Meanwhile, sympathetic Mr. Kilpatrick, the neighborhood police officer, gives Betsy his son's old football, but tells her to keep it hidden until the Wilson boys allow her to join the team. The soap selling scheme fails, and when Betsy kindly offers the boys her football, they invite her to join the team. Betsy happily plays football until the rough play begins to destroy her clothing. Instead of forbidding Betsy to play, her concerned parents buy their daughter a pair of ice skates and arrange skating lessons that conflict with the football games. Betsy retires from the team and gives the football to Billy. The oldest Wilson boy, Rudy, is so jealous that he takes revenge with a cruel Valentine prank that nearly destroys Betsy and Billy's friendship. This lovely addition to the Betsy series marks the first appearance of Little Eddie Wilson, who went on to star in his own series of books. This book has aged remarkably well, and the adults in the book are refreshingly supportive of Betsy's quest to play football. Because this book was published in 1945, young readers will probably not understand why Mr. and Mrs. Porter are unhappy when Betsy and Billy use the family's last stick of butter (one quarter pound) to make cream puffs. The United States was in the midst of World War II, but other than this oblique reference to food rationing (and Mr. Kilpatrick's brief statement about his son in the Navy), wartime strife didn't touch the lives of the children in this timeless classic.

My seven-year-old daughter enjoys this book as much as I did, and my mother before me! Betsy and her friends have a kind of ageless fun and action, even as their surroundings change from ours.

I love the Betsy books. She has lots of friends. Betsy and the Boys is great! It is a very fast and easy book. Haywood did a very good job. I love to read them over again. It is a wonderful book.

I read all of her Betsy books and reread some of them for old time sake and I still got that sweet feeling of satisfaction at the end of each book