LOVED remembering her!--made me want to go back and read all the books again--I don't think I really grasped the importance of them as a historical record at the time, but she is amazing. Fun photographs, and helped clear up the journeying back and forth through all of the books. I was so shocked though, when I realized she lived into the 1950's!! I used to daydream in elementary school, of showing (my friend) Laura all of the modernizations around now, like cars and planes and computers, and loved the idea of how foreign that world would seem to her. To read then, that she actually owned cars, and FLEW in an airplane before she died really shot down (or fulfilled?) my imaginings! You can't help but long for--even with all of the struggles, the simplicity of a day, when all of your time and energy was spent building your home together, and I chuckled over her amusement with the feminist movement, since the frontier (in her experience, anyway) left no room for oppression or sexism--everyone put in as much as they could as long as they could, and were grateful for each other.

3.5 stars

Having heard the "Little House" books as a child, I was interested to hear the story behind the stories. I was glad to hear more about Laura I. Wilder's life. Some good, historical stuff. As always, I prefer memoir to biography (just a little too detailed and text bookish). Which of course, is why the books she wrote were so wonderful-written from her memories and from her heart. Her family and their adventures came to life.

This is a well-researched, beautifully written and respectable biography that smoothly explains Laura Ingalls Wilder's life from start to finish.

Picked this book up at the gift shop at Rocky Ridge Farm! It was wonderful to read about Laura's life and be able to picture her Missouri years so vividly, since I have now been there. This book is a quick, easy read that fills in a lot of the gaps from the "Little House" books— particularly the time the Ingalls family spent in Iowa. It features several black-and-white photos, which I also enjoyed.

I didn't "learn" very much new, but it's a thorough accounting of her life. Reads quicker, less like a textbook or journal article (and at a lower level - maybe 8-12 yrs old?) than the Miller books which I'm also wading through. This is more of a complement to the Little House books, rather than a reference book.

Love this. I wanted to keep reading and reading

This bio was a nice refresher before I start digging into the "Little House" series again..but it didn't relay much more than I already knew. In fact, it was a little too sugar coated to my liking. There was no mention of Ma's racist views towards the Native Americans who's land her family was illegally occupying or the drunk settler who Laura witnessed immolating himself. There's more to Laura Ingalls Wilder's life than the series she wrote; many historians actually agree that the manner in which it was written leans towards fiction to better suit a children's book. I love the series and Laura dearly, but would've liked to see a more realistic biography.

Kinda fluffy, but I learned some new things--like, did you know that Laura Ingalls Wilder and Almanzo lived in Florida for some time? I had no idea! I wish there were a book about that--it sounded fascinating. All in all, I didn't learn a whole lot of substantial things that I didn't already know, but it was a good, quick read, anyway. But probably written more for kids, not so much for adults.

This biography, compared to the one by DK Publishing, seemed rather tame. It portrays a warmer relationship between Laura and her daughter, for one thing. Here, Laura is the same tomboy she is portrayed as in the fiction series, but is also an old school country girl whereas her daughter Rose is clearly a more sophisticated feminist with her bachelorette lifestyle, career focus, short skirts and short hair. I felt drawn more to Laura's lifestyle than to Rose's - who apparently thought her ways were better than her old-fashioned mother. Rose had a big impact on her mother's career but lived to a shorter age.

I thought the author did an excellent job of filling in the blanks left by the 'Little House' series written by Laura. If you ever wanted to know what happened to half-pint later in life then this is the book for you; however, don't expect as easy a read as Laura gave us. This book makes you work hard to uncover the truth. It is written in a fairly academic style and can even appear a little dry in places. Worth persevering though.

I need this for my Laura Ingalls Wilder collection!!