“Carney is one of my favorite characters in Betsy’s high school Crowd, and if ever a character deserved her own book, it is Caroline Sibley.” – Melissa Wiley

With a Foreword by Melissa Wiley

Two beloved characters from the beloved Betsy-Tacy series by Maud Hart Lovelace get their own stories in this two-volume omnibus of Carney’s House Party and Winona’s Pony Cart.

Carney’s House Party: In the summer of 1911, Caroline “Carney” Sibley is home from college and looking forward to hosting a monthlong house party – catching up with the old Crowd, including her friend Betsy Ray, and introducing them to her Vassar classmate Isobel Porteous. Romance is in the air with the return of Carney’s high school sweetheart Larry Humphreys, for whom she’s pined all these years. Will she like him as well as she once did? Or will the exasperating Sam Hutchinson turn her head?

Winona’s Pony Cart: More than anything in the world, Winona Root wants a pony for her eighth birthday. Despite her father’s insistence that it’s out of the question, she’s wishing so hard that she’ll get one – at least, that’s what she tells her friends Betsy, Tacy and Tib.

Featuring a foreword by author Melissa Wiley, this edition includes archival material and photos of Lovelace as well as Marion Willard, the basis for Carney Sibley, and Beulah Hunt, the inspiration for the young Winona Root. Also included is a biography of Maud Hart Lovelace illustrator Vera Neville, as well as Neville’s original cover art for the 1949 publication of Carney’s House Party along with interior illustrations by Neville.

Many of places and homes from the Betsy-Tacy and Deep Valley series can still be seen in Mankato (the basis for Deep Valley), MN today, including Betsy’s and Tacy’s childhood homes, which are available to tour thanks to the Betsy-Tacy Society.

Read all the books in the classic Betsy-Tacy series, which follows aspiring writer Betsy Ray and her friends from the age of five through to Betsy’s post-high school travel in pre-WWI Europe and her wedding, spanning the first decade of the 1900s and beyond. These iconic stories, based in large part on Maud Hart Lovelace’s own childhood, teenage years and young adulthood in Mankato (Deep Valley), MN have been beloved by generations of readers and authors alike:

The Betsy-Tacy Books
Betsy-Tacy
Betsy, Tacy and Tib
Betsy and Tacy Go Over the Big Hill
Betsy and Tacy Go Downtown
Also available in the four-volume omnibus The Betsy-Tacy Treasury
Heaven to Betsy/Betsy in Spite of Herself (two-volume omnibus)
Betsy Was a Junior/Betsy and Joe (two-volume omnibus)
Betsy and the Great World/Betsy’s Wedding (two-volume omnibus)

The Deep Valley Books (books about other characters in Betsy’s Crowd and town):
Carney’s House Party/Winona’s Pony Cart (two-volume omnibus)
Emily of Deep Valley

Carney's House Party/Winona's Pony Cart

Carney's House Party/Winona's Pony Cart