Understood Betsy

Nine-year-old Elizabeth Ann has been raised by two doting, nervous aunts who worry over her every cough and cut her food into small pieces. When illness forces them to send her to the Putney cousins on their Vermont farm, she dreads the horrid relatives she has heard so much about. Instead she finds cats to feed, butter to churn, a one-room schoolhouse, and grown-ups who calmly expect her to manage on her own. Slowly the fearful child becomes a capable one who barely recognizes herself. Dorothy Canfield Fisher, who helped bring Montessori ideas to America, wrote a warm children’s story that is also a gentle argument for letting children learn by doing. This free PDF and EPUB edition keeps a beloved classic within easy reach.