EMILY OF DEEP VALLEY

Loved. Of course Betsy is nearest to my heart, but strictly in terms of quality, this might be an even better book than any of the Betsy ones—and since it’s the most standalone and serious of all the Deep Valley books, it makes a good entry point for an adult reader. It also dispels any fear that Maud Hart Lovelace might be a one-trick pony, for Emily Webster is a completely different heroine than Betsy: an only child, an orphan, with no close friends and an uncertain future. Though a bright student who yearns to attend college like her peers, she can’t leave her grandfather, so she must “muster her wits” to build a life for herself in Deep Valley. Emily’s determined journey from timidity and alienation to self-actualization is an inspiring coming-of-age story, and there are fun cameos from Betsy and her friends along the way (Emily graduates from high school two years behind Betsy, so we get a glimpse of the Crowd in the “lost” years between Betsy and Joe and Betsy and the Great World).