WINONA’S PONY CART

In addition to the Betsy-Tacy series, Maud Hart Lovelace published three spinoff “Deep Valley” books, none of which I’d read before. (They’re currently out of print, but Harper Collins appears to be republishing them—hopefully, with the same sleek and sophisticated treatment it just gave to the later Betsy-Tacy books—in October, which I eagerly await because my library doesn’t have the one I most want to read, Carney’s House Party.) This one, set sometime between Betsy-Tacy and Tib and Betsy and Tacy Go Over the Big Hill, stars an 8-year-old Winona Root, with Betsy, Tacy, and Tib as supporting cast. The plot is simple (Winona has a birthday and wants a pony) but charming; sassy Winona makes a fun protagonist, and it’s interesting to see things from her point of view (as opposed to her semi-nemesis role in Betsy and Tacy Go Downtown).