Carney's House Party/Winona's Pony Cart: Two Deep Valley Books

By Maud Hart Lovelace

“Some characters become your friends for life. That’s how it was for me with Betsy-Tacy.” —Judy Blume

“I am fairly certain that my independent, high-spirited grandmother must have had a childhood similar to Betsy Ray’s….As I read...I felt that I was having an unexpected and welcome peek into Granny’s childhood.” —Ann M. Martin, author of The Baby-sitter's Club

Two of Maud Hart Lovelace’s beloved Deep Valley books join the Harper Perennial Modern Classics library, next to other enduring favorites like A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, To Kill a Mockingbird and Lovelace’s Betsy-Tacy books. This beautiful combination edition of Carney's House Party and Winona's Pony Cart features a foreword by author Melissa Wiley and a never-before-published biography of Lovelace illustrator Vera Neville.

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Release date: Apr 26, 2011
• ISBN: 9780062094278

Maud Hart Lovelace

Maud Hart Lovelace (1892-1980) based her Betsy-Tacy series on her own childhood. Her series still boasts legions of fans, many of whom are members of the Betsy-Tacy Society, a national organization based in Mankato, Minnesota.

Reviews for Carney's House Party/Winona's Pony Cart

[abigailadams26 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Maud Hart Lovelace, whose ten-book Betsy~Tacy series offers a delightful record of three young girls growing up in late nineteenth and early twentieth century Minnesota, also wrote three tangentially related titles, set in the same fictionalized town of Deep Valley. Carney's House Party is one of these (along with Emily of Deep Valley and Winona's Pony Cart), and although the HarperCollins reprint I read lists it as the second in the series, it was published first, in 1949. As it is my understanding that all three of the Deep Valley books are independent stories, and stand outside the main Betsy~Tacy storyline, I thought it made just as much sense to read by publication date, as by series chronology.Set during the summer of 1911, when Carney (Caroline) Sibley returns to Deep Valley, after her sophomore year at Vassar College, this book fills in some of the time between Betsy and Joe, which chronicles the Crowd's senior year in high school, and Betsy and the Great World, in which Betsy Ray tours Europe. It is an absolute joy to read! From the fascinating glimpses it offered, into the world of an early twentieth-century college girl, or the tensions between eastern and mid-western social mores (some things haven't changed!), to the many heartwarming reunions - best friends Carney and Bonnie, long-time correspondents Carney and Larry Humphries, and Betsy Ray and the old Deep Valley "Crowd" - depicted, Carney's House Party was great fun, particularly for the fan of the Betsy~Tacy books!I appreciated the opportunity to view Deep Valley and its people, including Betsy herself, from a different perspective, and although I knew (having already read Betsy's Wedding) the inevitable outcome of Carney's romantic entanglements, it was still entertaining to watch the story unfold. I liked the "baby hippo" immensely! Although I think my knowledge of Deep Valley made this a richer experience for me, Carney's House Party stands very well on its own, and would be enjoyed by readers who like tales of early twentieth-century women's lives. As for me, I can't wait to get my hands on a copy of Emily of Deep Valley!

[satyridae · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I love this book more each time I read it. I like seeing Betsy through Carney's eyes, and I think Lovelace was very successful at showing us what the whole world looked like through Carney's eyes. Sam is one of my favorite characters in the whole Betsy-Tacy series. I like seeing how the childhood love of Carney and Larry plays out here. All the characters are whole and round and real, the situations believable, and the elopement of Bobbie a classic. Beautifully done.

[bjace_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I read nearly all of the Betsy-Tacy books as a teenager, but I didn't know this one existed until several years later. It focuses on Betsy's friend Carney Sibley. Home from Vassar for the summer, Carney invites (with misgivings) her college roommate to visit. Several old friends turn up as well, while Carney makes a new friend who just might be someone very special. This is a really charming book.

[florinda_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Maud Hart Lovelace's Betsy-Tacy books were among my favorites as a child and young teen, and I was thrilled when the four high-school Betsy-Tacy novels and two "adult Betsy" stories were re-issued in 2009 as two-in-one volumes. However, Lovelace also wrote a couple of "spinoff" novels featuring characters introduced in those books, and those have always been harder to find. Harper Perennial has now reissued those as well, in editions that match last year's reprints and including new forewords and supplemental material.I don't think I read Winona's Pony Cart as a child, although I knew Winona Root from the Betsy-Tacy stories beginning with Betsy and Tacy Go Downtown. This story, featuring an eight-year-old Winona Root and appearances by Betsy, Tacy, and Tib, provides a little more background about a character that's both friend and rival to Lovelace's primary heroines. It's an enjoyable children's book - engagingly written, not overly cute, fun to read - but it is definitely a children's book, and therefore a bit too light a read for my personal taste. If I had a young daughter, I think I'd enjoy reading it to and/or with her, but for myself...well, if it weren't a companion to Carney's House Party, I'd probably have passed it up.Carney's House Party falls chronologically in between Lovelace's Betsy and Joe and Betsy and the Great World and centers on Betsy's high-school friend Caroline "Carney" Sibley, returned to Deep Valley, Minnesota for the summer between her sophomore and junior years at Vassar College. Going back East for college is unusual for the kids in Betsy's Crowd, and it's broadening and reshaping Carney's view of the world. It's also made her wonder how her East Coast roommate Isobel, who has accompanied her back to Deep Valley, will perceive her family, her hometown, and her native Middle West.It's quite a summer for visitors to Deep Valley, and they're converging on the Sibleys' house. The house party also includes Carney's dear friend Bonnie Andrews, recently returned from Europe, and Betsy Ray herself, headed back to Minneapolis after months spent at her grandmother's home in San Diego recovering from appendicitis. Also coming from California: Larry Humphreys, Carney's high-school boyfriend, who moved out there with his family four years earlier. Larry and Carney have faithfully exchanged letters since he left, but haven't seen each other, and it seems that neither can move ahead with certain aspects of their futures until they do.It's a fun summer, full of games and parties, and friendship, but it's also a time of sorting out unfinished business and re-evaluating both old and new relationships.I've only read Carney's House Party once before, and it was a long time ago. I didn't remember as much about it as I had of the Betsy-Tacy books, but I always liked Carney as a character and I enjoyed seeing her again. While her educational aims were higher than Betsy's, she was never as concerned with a career; Betsy always wanted to be a writer, but Carney and Bonnie had been preparing their hope chests since high school and were more interested in when - and with whom - they'd start families of their own. Carney had wondered for years if her future would be with Larry, and it's important - to both of them - to find out.Like Lovelace's other novels featuring these characters as teenagers and adults, Carney's House Party contains details that place it at a specific point in time, and yet the story it tells isn't dated. The characters are well-developed and ring true - as they should, since they're nearly all based on real people in the author's life - and as such, they're timeless. This novel isn't essential to the Betsy Ray story, but it's an enjoyable read, both as a supplement to that story and in its own right.