BETSY WAS A JUNIOR:

Betsy makes a lot of plans for her junior year and has a lot of great ideas that don’t always turn out like she planned. She plans to “go with” Joe Willard, her rival in the annual Essay Contest, but he’s seeing the rich and beautiful Phyllis Brandish, the sister of Betsy’s ex-boyfriend, Phil. So she attends dances and parties with the silent but handsome Dave Hunt. When her sister, Julia, starts her freshman year at the University of Minneapolis and decides to join the Epsilon Iotas, Betsy and her best friends, Tacy Kelly and Tib Muller (who just moved back to Deep Valley from Milwaukee), start their own sorority, the Okto Deltas. However, the exclusivity of the Okto Deltas may have been exciting and mysterious to start, but the consequences threaten to ruin Betsy’s junior year.

BETSY AND JOE:

Betsy and Joe Willard, her longtime rival in the school’s Essay Contest, began corresponding the summer after their junior year. Betsy and Joe have a love of reading and writing in common, but while Betsy is outgoing and living a basically carefree life, the orphaned Joe must work several jobs to pay for the room he rents. As their relationship takes off, Betsy’s personality rubs off on Joe, and he begins taking part in class activities, sharing them with Betsy.

However, Tony Markham, Betsy’s first crush who has become more like a brother in the years since they were freshmen, takes a romantic interest in Betsy. He hangs out with a rough crowd, but he begins to change under Betsy’s influence — and Betsy is afraid that saying no when he beats Joe in asking her to a dance will push him away. Betsy must choose whether to ruin a good friendship or upset Joe.

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Lovelace writes with a fondness and a tenderness for her past and for her family and friends. I love the glimpses of life at the turn of the century — the music, the fashion, the courting customs, the old traditions. And I especially love the happiness and closeness of the Ray family and the innocence of Betsy and the Crowd. There is a seriousness to Betsy Was a Junior that isn’t in the previous books because, for the first time, Betsy realizes that she and her friends are growing up. Life can’t always be fun and carefree, and that’s a lesson we all have to learn at some point.

Lovelace does a good job showing Betsy’s transformation into a young woman and Joe’s evolution as his fondness for Betsy grows. Betsy, Tacy, and Tib are typical girls when it comes to clothes and boys, although their conversations about the opposite sex often turn toward marriage — which is not on the minds of most 18-year-old girls today. Despite Betsy’s feelings for Joe, however, she is determined to pursue a career in writing, and her family and friends provide much encouragement. Betsy and Joe’s budding romance is sweet and very innocent. I know that has a lot to do with the time in which the story takes place and the year it was published (1948) — and some might argue that such a courtship isn’t realistic today — but it was a breath of fresh air to read a book about young love that is more about common interests than sex.

Full reviews on Diary of an Eccentric here and here.