Understood Betsy

Canfield Fisher was a strong supporter of new ideas about children's education, and the book is a gentle argument for letting children learn by doing. Betsy's transformation, from a nervous girl who cannot decide anything to one who solves real problems, is charming to watch, and the scenes of her first small successes are delightful.

The Putney farm is lovingly drawn, from the kitchen and the animals to the one-room school where Betsy discovers she can learn at her own pace. Uncle Henry and Aunt Abigail are quietly wise, and their trust in Betsy is the book's main theme. A late episode in which Betsy has to find her own way home with a younger child after being left behind at a fair shows how far she has come.

The narrator sometimes addresses readers directly, which can feel old-fashioned, and some of the comments about education may seem preachy to modern readers. The pace is gentle. For a warm, wise and still relevant story about growing up, it is a lovely rediscovery. About 182 pages in the University Press of New England paperback; one listing gives 176.