Although John grew up on the Big Hill, he disdained the works of Maud Hart Lovelace. They were for girls, and, in addition, if Maud Hart grew up in Mankato, she could not have been a very good writer. Right?

Then he became friends with Susan Allen Toth, a Minneapolis writer, and, with her, he compiled a book called Reading Rooms, a collection of literature about libraries. Susan, who loves Betsy-Tacy and Tib, ordered John to read Downtown. He did. He fell in love with Maud Hart Lovelace, and he determined that the world would be a much better place if she could get some publicity, if her books could all come back into print, and if the gospel of BTT was spread throughout the universe.

He had stumbled across some other fans, including Sharla Whalen, Maud's biographer, and Gretchen Wronka, Senior Librarian for Children's Services for the Hennepin County Library. Both of them urged him to contact Kathleen Baxter.

And that is when I entered the picture. I fell in love with Betsy Ray and Maud Hart Lovelace as a young girl. I grew up in Walnut Grove, around 85 miles from Mankato, and my mother pointed me to the BTT books and I was a goner. I had formed a lifelong passion. In college, Gretchen and I and two other girls had even met Carney, Cab and Jean, visited Mankato, and toured the inside of the high school house—which was torn down a few weeks later. We corresponded with Maud, who was delighted to hear from us, and wrote us long, delightful letters back.