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Understood Betsy or Heidi -which did you love more?
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Either Heidi or Understood Betsy will be the next read aloud at my house. The boys (10, 8.5 and 6) are so excited for me to unveil our next book – it’s actually quite funny how excited they are! We’ve just finished Little Lord Fauntleroy and everybody misses little Cedric already, so we decided to go with a girl as main character for our next pick and hope that we will get to “love” her, too.
Just thought it might be fun to ask the forum whether “Heidi” or “Understood Betsy” was your more well-loved book. Little Lord Fauntleroy is going to be hard to beat!
PS – In the Spring we did Pollyanna; she was well-loved, too! My boys don’t care at all whether it’s a boy or girl main character – both have equal appeal. The only thing they don’t really care for is fantasy…but that’s a subject for another post, LOL
Oh my! What a hard question!!! I guess if I had to choose it would have to be Understood Betsy. So many wonderful ideas about nurturing children.
Understood Betsy. A must read! I’d think more actually get to read Heidi, so I wouldn’t risk missing out on Betsy.
Love Betsy and need to read it again. Actually, I read it to myself, then to my kids and would read it again to myself if I didn’t have a thousand more I want to read.
Understood Betsy! From a read-aloud standpoint, I thought Understood Betsy was easier to read aloud and more enjoyable.
Yeah, Both need to be read….
I think I’m leaning towards Heidi first…. Guess it depends on the message needed first…. They both have a number of lessons, but this is what I’m seeing.
Heidi – Patience in tribulation and Faith in the Lord… (Plus not giving in to anger/jeleosy with the Peter Character)
Understood Betsy – learning confidence in abilities….
Wow, this is great info. Thanks everyone! suzukimom, thanks a bunch for the detail, that is really helpful.
And Karen, loved your comment on which one is actually easier to read aloud. It is so true that some books are easier than others for my voice and my brain to really bring to life. Sometimes I try to do voices, other times not so much. Ohhh, how people would have howled with laughter hearing my attempts, in Little Lord Fauntleroy, to do (all in one book) a New York accent, a southern U.S. accent, the British “aristocratic” accent of the Earl, and the British “country folk” accent. All this from me – a Canadian girl! It was truly hilarious. I toned it all down in the end as I was beginning to confuse even myself! (fortunately my boys did not get confused…)
thanks again ladies! Angie
Just wanted to add that if you do Heidi – you really need to watch which version. As it wasn’t originally written in English, there are various “unabridged” versions that are quite different…. the translation is important!
I believe this is the recommended one… http://manybooks.net/titles/spyrijoh2078120781-8.html
Ah, that is good to know suzukimom. I have TWO copies of Heidi already – one by Puffin, says the translation original was 1956. Does not say “abridged”. I checked with Puffin many months ago and got a list of all their classics and which ones they have abridged. (for the record that list was very short) Heidi is not listed among them. But “abridged” does not necessarily link to “translation” does it? Hmmm.
The other copy I have is older; I picked it up at a used curriculum sale and it is definitely from the 1960s or 1970s… all it says is translated by Louise Brooks, and no date at all (?!) I would have thought this copy might be more true to original, simply because it’s older, but I’ve just picked it up and noticed it says on the inside cover, “Heidi, A Story For Children”. The modification on the title is probably a giveaway that it’s abridged, even though it doesn’t say abridged. Would you all agree? I should read the Puffin, then?
Not necessarily.
Here are some thoughts
Mine – which seems pretty good (dell yearling classic) – although the printing is bad on many pages – has 2 parts. 14 chapters in part 1, and 9 in Part 2. (some versions don’t have all the chapters?)
There are hymns that some versions leave out. One, for example are in chapter 14 (part 1) – chapter is titled “Sunday when the church bells ring” (there are some elsewhere, but a really long one is there, making it easy to look for.) – so look for they hymns….
If so far they seem pretty much even – take a few parts of the book, and read the same passages…. does one seem to be a lot better translation?
For books like this – the abilities of the translator make a huge difference, and older isn’t always better
We have enjoyed both books. It would be hard to decide which one to read first. Definitely plan to read both. 🙂 But I have read Understood Betsy myself more than once and really, really enjoyed it.
So many books, so little time! LOL.
Melissa
About Understood Betsy….I see several publishers & varying dates available through our inter-library loan. Is there a specific edition that is recommended?
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