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Understood Betsy  By  cover art

Understood Betsy

By: Dorothy Canfield
Narrated by: Bobbie Frohman
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Publisher's summary

Elizabeth Ann was orphaned at an early age and raised by her maiden aunts in the busy city. Sudden illness forces the aunts to send Betsy to other relatives, The Putnams, who live in the country on a farm. Betsy learns all about the farm and making butter and applesauce and dearly loves her new life. When one of the aunts comes back and wants to take Betsy back to the city. . . such a dilemma!

Children can readily relate to Betsy who is a real girl in a real world where fortune seems to direct her life. She so loves being on the farm and doing all the things a farm girl does, including going to school. When fate again intervenes and tries to take her away from the life she loves, some manner of common sense hitcomes into play and Betsy, though torn, bounds into another day of farmlife, full of caring love for all she comes in contact with, and grows into a beautiful young lady.

Table of Contents:

Chapter 01. Aunt Harriet Has a Cough

Chapter 02. Betsy Holds the Reins

Chapter 03. A Short Morning

Chapter 04. Betsy Goes to School

Chapter 05. What Grade is Betsy?

Chapter 06. If You Don't Like Conversation in a Book Skip this Chapter!

Chapter 07. Elizabeth Ann Fails in an Examination

Chapter 08. Betsy Starts a Sewing Society

Chapter 09. The New Clothes Fail

Chapter 10. Betsy Has a Birthday

Chapter 11. "Understood Aunt Frances"

Dorothy Canfield

Dorothea Frances Canfield (1879-1958) was an American author and both an child and adult educational activist. Canfield worked closely with Maria Monterssori in Italy, and was greatly influential in promoting education in the United States.

Dorothy Canfield was born in Kansas, but her family traveled as her father's academic career progressed, he eventually became president of Ohio State University. Canfield settled in Vermont with her husband and children, and continued writing professionally.

Public Domain (P)2006 Alcazar Audioworks

What listeners say about Understood Betsy

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Loved by kids, mom, and dad!

This was my favorite book as a child and I read it many times, so I'm fairly biased. :-) But I didn't announce this to the kids when I bought it and several others from Audible. They started listening while I was at work and when I got home both kids and Dad/husband were sitting silently, hanging on every word.

I loved this story because it shows the transformation of a shy anxious child (which I was) into a spunky, confident person (which I am now, partly thanks to the influence of this book). It is a great story but also something of a treatise on the author's beliefs about child development, education, etc. The adults are kind and helpful but also give Betsy the opportunity to learn to think independently, problem solve, etc. She learns to deal with test anxiety, pride, lack of attention, scary situations, etc. There are some heavy topics (including a child with an alcoholic step father) but all dealt with in a way that I felt was entirely appropriate for by almost-5 year old. Characters are not one dimensional. At the end, we are able to see Aunt Frances (Betsy's original caregiver) in a whole new light

The book is about a girl but very appropriate for boys too--my 8 year old son especially enjoyed all the small adventures --rescuing a little girl who fell into the "wolf pit" (no wolves involved), getting lost at the fair, etc.

We all liked the narrator. She does a good job with pacing and emotion and uses slightly different voices during dialogue so you can easily follow who is saying what. Even with how many times I've read the book, I felt like I understood the characters better after hearing this narrator read them. My kids like almost any narrator but I'm really picky so that's a high compliment.

I would recommend pre-reading if you have a child under about 6 or an especially sensitive child--the book starts off with Betsy being sent away from the only family she's ever known. But ultimately, I would highly recommend this book and this performance of it for the whole family.

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6 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Helicopter parent, enter at your own risk

'Understood Betsy' shows us a little girl who grows up to enjoy learning, become curious, act with courage and love work. The setting is around 1900 and the risk-averse Aunt Francis, because of other duties, has to put little Betsy under the care of the gauche farmer cousins. Surprisingly, Betsy thrives.

All of my kids, aged 3-12 loved this story. The narration was good, in that the narrator brings out the right nuance in such a way that little kids get what's being suggested but not being said. This story ranks up w Little House on the Prairie and Little Britches

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5 people found this helpful

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starts slow but wonderful story

it's starts slow but hang with it and it gets really good. this was part of our homeschool lessons and I struggled to read it aloud with the kids because it starts slow but we enjoyed listening to it together.

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3 people found this helpful

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Lovely story

This tale takes me back to a time when hard work and family were important. I enjoyed the story very much. It's a simple children's tale but adults can get much from it, as well.

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3 people found this helpful

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Old fashioned fun

I would describe this book as "old-fashioned." It was okay, and pleasant to read, but not griping. It made me smile in a couple of spots, and I think the narrator did a good job.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

A sweet story of bygone days and timeless values!

Be patient. Let your love for the characters be cultivated. This is a sweet comforting story that reminds us of how to care, how to learn and develop, how to accept our humanity and love others where they are. It is not a rushed story, but one that will probably lower your blood pressure and bring a smile to your heart if you let it. It was a gift for me to listen to during the chaos and rush of modern life going on all around me. I might have driven in the slow lane just to enjoy it longer while out and about. 😊

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1 person found this helpful

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Good Story

It is a little slow at first, but once you get into the story, you won't want to stop listening.

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1 person found this helpful

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A great children’s story for all ages

My children and I listened to this version as part of our homeschool curriculum, and we fell in love with the story! The performance of the narrator was really good. The only thing that made it a four star review for her performance was that her voice would sometimes become sickeningly sweet. That is obviously a personal opinion on such a trivial matter; otherwise, we felt the narrator did an excellent job speaking for each character.

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  • Overall
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👍😃

This book is amazing 😍 It takes a little while to understand it but after you understood it, it's awesome 👍 For ages 9 and up

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I love this!

This was one of my favorite books as a child, loved listening to being brought to life. So excited to share this with my grandchildren!

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