Betsy's Busy Summer - written and illustrated by Carolyn Haywood – 1956

 

 

Fifties children gone wild on summer vacation !

 

School is out and the neighborhood children are excited about summer vacation. Betsy is especially excited because her father recently built a summerhouse in the big back yard, reminiscent of the one in his back yard as a child.

 

Betsy and her friends have many summer adventures in a small town in the late fifties. With no video games or computers, they amuse themselves with activities such as playing checkers, dressing up in old adult size clothing, running a lemonade stand, and trying to fry an egg on the sidewalk.  Every chapter is a new and different adventure the neighborhood kids have, many times in Betsy's back yard.

 

The Duchess gets muddy, catches a goldfish

One day Betsy and her best friend Ellen are in the summer house sewing doll clothes. Betsy's younger sister Star and Ellen's younger sister Linda are playing dress up in old adult clothes.  Linda is wearing a black lace dress which has been wrapped around her body many times to make it fit.  She parades around telling Star she is a “Duckess” that she lives in a castle and is very rich.  She falls in a small shallow fishpond in the yard and cannot get out as the muddy sides are slick and her dress hinders her.

 

The girls get a small ladder and try to help Linda climb up on to the ladder, but she falls in again and is crying. Star counts the goldfish in the pond. There are supposed to be eight fish, but she can only see seven.  Now Star is upset about the lost fish which only adds to the chaos.  Finally, they get Linda out of the pool and get the “Duckess” dress unwound and off Linda who is wearing a ruffled sun suit underneath.  Now she is screaming that the goldfish is inside her pants.  Eventually they get the fish out of Linda's pants, and when they release it back into the pool, it goes swimming away.  Linda is ok.  The goldfish is ok.  All is well when mother comes to check on the girls.

 

Lemonade gone wrong!

One day Betsy and her friend Billy decide to open a lemonade stand and must make do with whatever supplies they can find to make lemonade. Mother gives them permission to make lemonade and is in the house, but is on the phone, so is not monitoring their every move. Being short on lemons and not knowing what ingredients should be used, they make a concoction of raspberry jam, molasses, prune juice, and one lemon. The mixture is described as turning out a grayish color which is not so appetizing. As I read this, I am wondering if the author actually made this drink to see if it turned out gray and if she did a taste test!

Betsy and her friend Billy sell the lemonade in front of Betsy's house at their makeshift lemonade stand made from a wooden box. Two men, complete strangers pull up in their car and each purchase a glass of lemonade or rather “Razburyaide” as Betsy and Billy renamed it. Comparing this scene with such a scene today, I think about how unsafe and unacceptable it would be today for children to communicate with strangers in such a way. However, the men are kind and are even discreet when they pour the grayish liquid out of the car window.

Everyone else that stops by looks at the Razburyaide and then politely declines saying they are not thirsty, so when the mailman Mr. Fisher comes by, they try to give him a glass for free.  He is driving a parcel post wagon drawn by a horse called Dolly.  Mr. Fisher kindly tells the children he is not thirsty but says maybe Dolly would like a drink. They pour the liquid into a bucket and Dolly takes a drink. Then she raises her head and loudly neighs.  Dolly refuses to take another drink.  Eventually the rest of the Razburyaide gets thrown into the bushes. There is conversation about the possibility of a raspberry bush coming up there next year.

 

Egg frying on a long hot summer day

On a very hot day, after hearing some adults say it is hot enough to fry an egg on the sidewalk, the children decide to try it. I think it is a fifties thing that their parents make them come up with five cents out of their own allowance and pay for the egg. Most parents today would not give a second thought about the cost of giving their children one egg!

When I read this book as a child, I tried frying an egg on the sidewalk, but like these children, I was unsuccessful. The chapter on egg frying ends when the family dog finds the egg and laps up all traces of it, except for the tell-tale yellow stickiness on his ears.

 

Watermelon seeds teach Rodney a lesson

Betsy plans a watermelon party in the back yard. Everyone can eat all the watermelon they want.  When everyone has stuffed themselves with watermelon, they plan to count each child's seeds.  The one with the most seeds wins a prize.  Before the party, Eddie boasts to all his friends that he will win the prize. Competitive Rodney hears Eddie bragging and comes up with a plan to win the contest. He asks his mom if the family can have some watermelon for dinner.  For several days before the party, Rodney helps his mother with the dinner dishes and collects all the watermelon seeds.

On the day of the party Rodney stuffs the seeds in his pockets, then spills them all over his bedroom floor and is almost late for the party as he picks up as many as he can before dashing off to the party. When he arrives, he realizes that the watermelon seeds from Betsy's watermelons are black.  The seeds in Rodney's pockets are white. He is devastated realizing he will not be able to win the contest. He even loses his appetite for watermelon.  The party is no fun for him.

After the party is over, and Eddie not Rodney wins the prize, Rodney returns home. To make matters worse, he runs up to his room and slips on some random watermelon seeds that are still on his floor. He falls down, skinning his nose. The story ends with Rodney sobbing on his mother's lap and telling her the whole story about the watermelon seeds, a lesson in honesty learned the hard way!

 

The ice cream man has trouble, kind children save the day!

The Jim Dandy truck periodically drives through the neighborhood selling ice cream on a stick in many delicious, assorted flavors. This is a special treat in the summer. I remember when I read this as a child this description of the ice cream made me want a Jim Dandy so badly: 

“There was vanilla covered with chocolate, vanilla covered with nuts, vanilla covered with coconut. There was also chocolate ice cream covered with the same coatings. There were peach and strawberry Jim Dandies, and there were others made of orange ice and raspberry ice. …. All the different kinds were kept frozen as hard as bricks inside of the truck. When the driver took them out, they smoked as they struck the warm air.” (Pages 57-58)

Doesn't that description sound just lovely if you were a kid on a hot day!  Then one day the bell broke. What a difference that makes! With no bell ringing, no one knows the truck is in the neighborhood and no one buys ice cream!

Billy happens to be out on the street skating.  He tries to help Jim the truck driver by looking for a bell he thinks he might have at his house, but he does not find it. Betsy and little sister Star get involved and all three children are very persistent in trying to help Jim.  They resourcefully suggest a flute, drum, ukulele, alarm clock, and sweet potato. Finally little Star saves the day with her triangle that she plays in the kindergarten orchestra. It sounds very much like the ice cream bell. The three children ride the Jim Dandy truck all afternoon and take turns playing the triangle. They sell lots of ice cream and they all get paid for helping.  They get paid with Jim Dandies and all are happy!

It happened at the supermarket

One day Betsy's mother sends Betsy down the street to the supermarket with a list of items to make vegetable soup. It happens that Betsy's friend Ellen and Ellen’s little sister Linda are at the supermarket with their little red wagon. Their mother has sent them with a shopping list of items to make gingerbread. 

Linda is happy she has a penny to get peanuts. While Ellen is shopping, Linda puts her penny in the peanut machine and to her surprise, all the peanuts in the machine come falling out. Linda puts the peanuts in her little red wagon. She becomes the center of attention with other children in the supermarket who gather around and start grabbing peanuts from her wagon. Big sister Ellen, who has been shopping, is astonished to see children surrounding her little sister who is sitting in her wagon covering up all the peanuts with the full skirt on her dress!

 

In the process of buying soda and peanuts, the girls laid their lists down and unknowingly got them mixed up. Much to the surprise and confusion for both mothers, Betsy comes home with items to make gingerbread, and Ellen has items to make soup.  After a phone call, the mothers solve the mystery. Betsy's mother makes the gingerbread while Ellen's mother makes the soup, and the two families get together that evening for a dinner of soup and gingerbread!

 

Muddy Fun at the pool site

Betsy's neighbors, the Jacksons build a swimming pool in their back yard. All the neighborhood children are very excited with anticipation of getting to swim in the pool. It is big entertainment for the children to watch the pool being dug. There is excitement when it rains in the big hole before the pool is finished. A couple of the boys accidentally slide into the huge muddy hole and are covered with mud. This makes for a cute story, but this would not fly today. Safety would be a top priority and the hole would be covered and probably a fence around it keeping everyone out.

 

Some of the children get too excited and seem to forget who the pool belongs to. They start a swimming club and plan on charging admission to the pool for those that are not a member of their swimming club. They even tell Mr. Jackson’s daughter she must pay.  When the pool is finally completed and ready to be used, Mr. Jackson, who owns the pool, must gently clarify to the children that he owns this pool. The bossy children who formed the swimming club must humbly dissolve the club.  Mr. Jackson is kind and forgiving and everyone gets to use the pool.

 

Betty Jane’s mysterious box

At the end of summer, the neighborhood children get to enjoy a hayride and wiener roast. Betty Jane brings a big box that has pictures on the outside, of delicious looking saltwater taffy. This gets the attention of all the children who stay close to Betty Jane, and they all want to sit by her on the hayride. She is very popular! When they get to the site of the wiener roast, Betty Jane starts to open the box.  All the children crowd around and try to help her. Then she opens the box, and it contains Betty Jane's galoshes which her mother had insisted she bring so her feet would not get wet!  This makes a bunch of disappointed children.

 

The saltwater taffy disappointment is forgotten as the children enjoy the roasted hot dogs, baked beans, hot cocoa, and cake. This takes place in the fall and is the last story in the book. At the very end, Dad tells Betsy he plans to board up the summer house for the winter, paint it a bright orange-red color, and make it look Christmassy.

 

Some things were different growing up in the fifties, but some things never change. Kids swimming on hot summer days, anticipation of an ice cream truck, and loving to play in the mud are classic human nature.  I was fortunate to get this book through an interlibrary loan, although it is currently for sale at online bookstores at a reasonable price. I eventually bought an inexpensive paperback copy, but as of this writing, there are copies for sale valued up to $995.00 or perhaps more.  I love this book every bit as much now as I did over fifty years ago.