A Work in Progress: Betty Cavanna

Wednesday, November 03, 2010

Betty Cavanna

10:40 a.m. / 10:40

Nancy Pearl often writes about out of print books she wishes someone would put back into print. I read an interview with her about a month ago in which she mentioned she'd like to see all of Betty Cavanna's books back in print. I would have to agree with her on this lady author. I have my mom's old copies of Accent on April and The Scarlet Sail. I believe I read them in high school. I've gone back and re-read all or parts of Accent on April over the years. They're sweet, classic teen romances. I don't know if they'd resonate with the Ellen Hopkins*crowd, but I do believe they could still find an audience today.

Since all of Betty Cavanna's books are out of print currently, I've added as many of them as I could to my Bookmooch wishlist. I was lucky enough to be able to get Ruffles and Dreams right away. It came in the mail just two days ago and I haven't had time to read it yet but I'm looking forward to it. The two that were my mom's are contemporary stories, or at least they were when the were written. Ruffles and Drums takes place during the Revolutionary War, though, so it should be a little different.

Some libraries may still have copies of Betty Cavanna's books but the system I work for does not. They had one listed when I checked but it was marked missing shortly after I placed a hold and requested it be transferred to the branch I work at. My guesses are that the books were withdrawn due to wear and tear or because old fashioned cover pictures no longer appealed to a new crowd of readers, so they weren't getting checked out even though the stories are good.

Anything out of print that you'd like to see make a return?

*No offense intended to Ellen Hopkins or her readers.

Labels: books