Wildflowers in Betsy and Tacy Go Over the Big Hill

A couple weeks ago, I highlighted the wildflowers mentioned in Betsy-Tacy and Tib. Today I'm going to feature the ones from Betsy and Tacy Go Over the Big Hill. Like last time, I omitted the common flowers, like daisies and violets. (Click image for source.)

They walked back slowly, picking flowers as they went. They didn't find many violets, but they found bloodroots, and Dutchman's breeches, and hepaticas, rising from the damp brown mat which carpeted the ground. (288)

Bloodroots

Columbine

Dutchman's breeches

Indian paintbrush

They scattered the flowers picked that morning on the hill, columbines and daisies and the scarlet Indian paintbrush. (442)

Hepaticas

Jack-in-the-pulpit

The went down the hill, running sometimes and walking sometimes, picking columbines and yellow bells and Jacks-in-the-pulpit and daisies to make a bouquet for the princess. (427)

Yellow bells

Some of these, like the Indian paintbrush and yellow bells, had different pictures come up for them. Hopefully I got the variety that would be indigenous to Minnesota. If any of you are gardeners, botanists, or flower experts, feel free to correct me!

Giveaway of The Betsy-Tacy Treasury

The recently released The Betsy-Tacy Treasury includes the first four books of the Betsy-Tacy series, conveniently bound together in one volume. It is available in both a softcover edition and an e-book. Just a reminder: if you order it through Amazon or Barnes & Noble, be sure to click through the links on the Betsy-Tacy Convention website to help support the Betsy-Tacy Society! 

The New York Times featured a wonderful write-up about this new edition, and the enduring charm of the series in general. Be sure to check it out!

Also, throughout these coming weeks, remember to visit the sites that will be part of the blog tour for this book. Sarah has a list here.

Harper Perennial sent me a free copy to review and I can assure you that this edition is just beautiful! There is also a new biography in the back of the book featuring illustrator Lois Lenski. I am delighted to add this volume to my book shelf.

If you haven't gotten around to ordering your copy yet, you are in luck; thanks to Harper, I have an extra copy to give to one lucky reader!

To be eligible for this contest you must:

• Not already own the Treasury 
• Be a resident of the contiguous United States

 There are two ways you can enter:

1. (Mandatory) Leave a comment with a suggestion or topic idea (Betsy-Tacy related, of course!) of what you would like me to post more of on this blog. Do you enjoy learning about the famous people mentioned in the books? The fashion? The places? Popular music? Quotes? Characters? Whatever it is, let me know! You can also leave any suggestions you have to improve the site.
   
   
2. For an extra entry, you can tweet this giveaway. Just be sure to come back and leave a comment saying you did so. 

This giveaway will run until Tuesday, November 22, 2011. I will come back then and update this post with the randomly-chosen winner. I will also privately contact the lucky person, so please be sure to include an e-mail address. Giveaway has ended.

Thank you to Harper Perennial for providing these copies, and for republishing this wonderful series! (Disclaimer: I was not paid to host this giveaway. I think you all know that I love this series, so my positive accolades are genuine!)
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The winner is Christine from A Rambling Fancy. (If you don't already own the book, please send me your address and I will get it out to you. My email is justaudrey[at]live[dot]com.)

Thank you everyone for participating. You all had some terrific suggestions and I look forward to covering them in the months ahead! 

"The Cat Duet"

Have you ever wondered what "The Cat Duet" sounded like? I know I have! My curiosity was finally satisfied when this video was recently posted on the BetsyTacyTib Twitter.

Betsy and Tacy first sing this duet in Betsy and Tacy Go Over the Big Hill, when they prepare it for the School Entertainment on the last day of fourth grade.

Betsy and Tacy were singing a duet made up entirely of "meows." They were going to wear cat costumes cut from shiny black cambric, with cat ears and tails. Mrs. Ray and Mrs. Kelly were busy making the costumes and Mrs. Ray was busy too rehearsing Betsy and Tacy. They ran into difficulties for Betsy was singing alto. It was altogether too easy for her to slide up into the soprano part and sing along with Tacy.
    When she did that, Tacy gave her a nudge which meant, "Get back to your alto!" Betsy's mother sounded the right note hard and Betsy got back to her alto as quickly as she could. (Betsy and Tacy Go Over the Big Hill, 340-341)

Betsy's mother began to play the piano and Betsy and Tacy began to sing: "Mee-ee-ow! Mee-ee-ow!"

    Like a kettle  boiling over, the room foamed with laughter.

    And the louder the children laughed, the louder Betsy and Tacy made their caterwauls, the more they wiggled their ears and swished their tales. Sometimes Betsy slid up to the soprano and sang along with Tacy, but nobody cared. Tacy forgot to nudge her and Mrs. Ray forgot to pound the right note hard. When the Cat Duet ended, the children clapped and stamped. Mothers wiped tears of laughter from their eyes and Miss Dooley said:

    "Betsy and Tacy will have to sing the Cat Duet for us next year."

    And so they did. In fact they sang it every year until they graduated from high school. (Betsy and Tacy Go Over the Big Hill, 345-346)

Thus the Cat Duet became an annual tradition for the two friends, one that continued well into high school (and is mentioned in these later books, as well).

So now you get to hear what it actually sounds like (though I'm sure Betsy and Tacy's version was much funnier, and probably a bit less professional)! 

This is the description on You Tube from the video below:

For cat lovers - and Gioachino Rossini lovers - everywhere, this is one of the better renditions of Duetto buffo di due gatti (Humorous Duet for Two Cats), which was likely written not by Rossini but by Robert Lucas de Pearsall and based on Rossini's 1816 opera Otello. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duetto_buffo_di_due_gatti for more info.