This has been my very first contact with The Little House series - I had never read any of the books by Laura Ingalls Wilder or watch the tv series - and I have truly enjoyed the journey of the Ingalls family to the prairie, to and fro. then why only a three-star rating? Well, quite probably because I have read it as an adult and not as a child and as such I felt a bit unimpressed by its simple plot. But that's not to say that The Little House on the Prairie hasn't got any literary merits. Perhaps, it would be fairer to go through it first as a child and then as an adult.

Reading The Little House on the Prairie as a child must be a whimsical experience. It is a great adventure book, complete with Indians and wild beasts. The Little House on the Prairie tells the story of the Ingalls family move to the American west in order to settle there as pioneers. It is not an easy life but they make it through and Laura tells us how they went from zero to hero (and to zero again) with all sort of details: they travel and found a perfect spot to settle in, they build a log cabin and even put glass windows on it (oh, the luxury of it), they added some precious animals to their farm. The woke up with the sun, did their chores, cooked and went to bed as the sun set. Sometimes there was some time left for innocent diversions, such as Pa's fiddling or Santa Claus' presents. This is definitely the kind of book I would have loved as a child - together with other great American classics such as Little Women and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, which were favourites of mine.

As an adult I still have enjoyed much the adventures of the Ingalls and in spite of not much happening I kept turning the pages. I found this to be an invaluable source on pioneer life and I think it is fascinating how people were so resilient and able. The travelled through a vast country without satnav, they cooked from scratch with as little as corn meal and some game, then built a house and everything within with nothing but wood, and they survived the terrors of the night with only love and Pa's gun. We, with our smartphones, internet and all, wouldn't last a night out there. But the Ingalls did, and many others as well. Pioneers are a fascinating people and we have plenty to learn from them. I feel a lot more confident after reading Laura's detail descriptions on how to build a house, dig a well or make a fire. I feel that I could do it myself anytime. Well, if only I could lift a heavy log from the ground ...

One of the most enthralling aspects of this book was how simple life was back then and yet how satisfied people were. They made the most of everyday, from dawn till dusk, and although everyday was pretty much the same and at times they didn't have nothing but a wagon, they were content. How I wish I could live like that sometimes. I also enjoyed the blurry historical setting and it really made me want to learn more about pioneers and American history. But American history, as any other history, is not without fault and this shows in the book as well, which has often been accused of racist.

Now, any history of the pioneer times which was not racist would not be a history; it would be a fiction. As simple as that. Those were the times and that was the mentality, so I don't think there was nothing wrong with the racist comments in the book - they were just a faithful portrayal of the times (and quite probably an accurate quoting of the characters portrayed in the book, which after all were people of bones and flesh). I think a much more interesting question would be whether Laura Ingalls Wilder's views (or her daughter's, as it was her who edited the books) were racist. I think I would need to read the whole series to be able to grasp her character better. From what I read in here I can say that Laura was curious about Indians, and curiosity often leads to openness. She's keen on seeing a little 'papoose'. But big Indians frighten her. Well, she's only a little girl after all. While many characters have a negative attitude towards Indians, particularly Laura's mother, Pa's attitude is neutral and Laura cherished her Pa like no one else, so perhaps that hints at a future neutral portrayal of the Indian minorities ... I don't know.

Anyway, some people seem to be rather put off by those racist quotes and I then wonder what their problem really is. Is it because it is a book for children? Well, then an abridged version would solve that problem, although older children and teenagers sure can handle this and make use of the opportunity for challenging conversations. Or is it because it make them as readers feel bad that this happened? Ot worse, simply because this racist behaviour is portrayed? Because the truth is that it happened. White settlers took the land that had long belonged to Indians, the confined them to reserves and plagued them with illnesses and alcohol. They bad-mouthed them. I think it would be really dangerous to ignore the facts and leave those racist details out so that some sensitive readers don't feel bad when reading this book, or others.

Finally, another detail that caught my attention was the importance of Pa's gun. Seriously, it is already mentioned in the first chapter of the book (first or second page) and it is frequently mentioned thereafter. Almost in every chapter of the book there's a reference to it. And here's the thing: the Ingalls were pioneers, their life was hard and the land dangerous. There were wolves, Indians and even a panther. Of course they needed a gun. However, I can help but wonder how this old adagio is still ingrained in Americans' mentality. It is even part of their identity, that Second Amendment. Perhaps it is because I am European but I find it really hard to understand how people still cling so tightly to that principle, which seems so outdated in our current society. Nonetheless, I can definitely see how this narrative and similars keep the pioneer heritage alive and help to ingrain that need for guns on the American collective mindset.

I thought that this book was good

This was just as enjoyable to read as an adult as it was as a child. It brought back a little of my childhood but made me realise also how much more complicated our lives have become not because they have to be but because we have made them that way. Life was harsh and difficult back then but it was also much simpler and there was more joy in the every day things. Now we need more and more and we are still not satisified. The story of Laura and her family is one that will be enjoyed by many generations to come, I'm sure.

This is another book we read to our “soon to be” six year old. She followed the chronicles of Pa, Ma, Mary, Laura and the baby as they moved from Wisconsin to the great American prairie lands.

Wilder recounts her life from Wisconsin to the Great American Prairie in a series of books and this one covers little more than a year in her life. But it was a momentous year that took the family from the great woods of Wisconsin across the Mississippi and other tributaries to a homestead in Kansas.

In that year, told in the third person, we come to understand both the hardships of travel and those of surviving on their own with only a few neighbors within a half day’s walk. The nearest town with mail and supplies was at least a two day ride in either direction.

Building a log cabin
Building shelter for the domesticated animals
Hunting for game
Planting for food
Skinning animals and tanning hides to trade for supplies
Negotiating with local Indian tribes
Surviving fire
Digging a very deep well

These and many other aspects of prairie life are recounted. How the family almost dies from malaria was a particularly dramatic moment that provided an opportunity for discussion. Ma’s irrational prejudice against Indians was another. Our “soon to be” six year old was fully engaged. We chose not to immediately go on to the next in the series, but I have no doubt that it will be read.

Caroline Ingalls is a hero.

I am hoping to review all the Little House books in the order I read them, so even though Little House on the Prairie is the second in the series, it was first for me. I was seven years old when I first read it, and my family had just moved from Manhattan to Queens, primarily so that I could attend a better school. I was the best reader in my first grade class in Manhattan, but second grade in Queens was a rude awakening. The kids there were reading chaptered books of more than 100 pages! Amongst the girls, Little House was the big favorite, so I jumped right in.

To tell the truth, I’m not 100% sure that Little House on the Prairie was my first chaptered book. It may have been Charlotte’s Web. What I do remember clearly is sitting in my class, reading a scene in which Laura is in the covered wagon while Pa is driving it across a river. “I’d love to see this on TV,” I thought. It was 1975. The show was in its second season, but I hadn’t discovered it yet. It wasn’t until after I read my second Little House book that I did discover it, and when I did, it felt like a wish come true!

As to the book, though, the line that I’ve remembered best through all these years is: “Perhaps Mary felt sweet and good inside, but Laura didn’t.” That was one of the greatest things about the books: Laura’s struggles with negative emotions were so familiar. But much of the history was lost on me as a child. I re-read what’s left of my old copy this Shabbos, and as an adult, I could see the broader political context. I’m sure I didn’t understand way back when that the Indians held their jamboree because the government had told the settlers to leave Indian Territory. And when the Ingalls family did leave at the end of the book, I don’t think I understood that it had to with the government's treaty with the Native Americans. I just thought that traveling around the prairie in a covered wagon was what pioneers did.

But it’s a classic book and a lifetime favorite. I do think, though, that the kids who read it should be given background information so that they can appreciate the history. There are homeschoolers’ guides for teaching the book. Perhaps school libraries across the country should invest in them. Kids enjoy the books because of the quality of the writing, but a little information from a teacher or parent can make the book even more meaningful.

4.5

Reread. Still good.

I remember my 3rd grade teacher reading these books to our class. It was nice revisiting a bit of nostalgia.

Little House on the Prairie is the second novel in the series, the first being Little House in the Big Woods. But they are stand alone stories so they don't have to be read together. Written by Laura Ingalls Wilder, the Little House books are semi-autobiographical and are told from young Laura's point of view. Yes, they are children's books, and they are written in a very simplistic style, maybe overly so for the adult reader, but perfectly suited for children. I don't think there is any doubt that the popular television series has really helped the book's perception. It has it's faults, like the insensitive treatment of the American Indian, for example. But it's earned it's spot in the annals of classic children's literature. For me, similar, but not quite on the same level with Little Women and Anne of Green Gables.

So racism is a very real thing in this children's book. I understand that having characters act and say racist things towards Native Americans is historically accurate, but that does not justify the author's dehumanizing descriptions of Native American people. She consistently compares them to animals, and she ran with the "savages" stereotype. Just gross. There was an attempt to criticize the racist views by having the stupidest characters have them, while the favorable characters have interest in the Osage tribe. However, this falls short because, again, animal descriptions for people.

Let's not overlook the "hero" character Pa. Pa's such a bad husband and father. The book opens with him dragging his wife and very very young children across states because the Big Woods were getting too crowded. Then the book agonizes over all of the work he puts into building the Little House, and at the end (spoiler alert!), he's like "fuck it! we're leaving in the morning." So he drags his family away from their new home that they finally settled in.

I get that this is a celebrated classic, but it is truly dated. Children should not be handed this book without any guidance or explanation. It is highly problematic in terms of its blatant (and uncritical) racism, sexism, and overall bad humanism.

Book number three is the first in the series to give me serious nostalgia, possibly only because of its title. I watched Little House religiously in syndication, and I remember thinking Michael Landon was like a more communicative version of my own kind dad - I loved how he threw back his head when he laughed.


Of course, fast forward a few years, and my thoughts transferred from Pa to Sully, on Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman, who was a total feminist in addition to being a drop-dead gorgeous mountain man. I watched that show religiously as it aired, asking Jesus to forgive me for all the naughty bedtime thoughts I was having about this man (how could I help myself, really?):


Okay, I’ve officially digressed…

In Little House, the family endures many harrowing subplots while settling in Kansas: fording a creek (that suddenly rises) and almost dying, catching malaria and almost dying, setting the chimney on fire and almost dying, being in the middle of a prairie fire and almost dying, being the focus of Native American war cries and almost dying.

Really, the Native American relations focus of this book is pretty tricky. And while Laura Ingalls Wilder doesn’t outright defend the rights of Indigenous people, which is a missed opportunity, she does raise the issue through little Laura in an intense scene with her father:

Pa said, “When White settlers come into a country, the Indians have to move on. The government's going to move these Indians farther west any time now. That's why we're here, Laura. White people are going to settle all this country, and we get the best land because we got here first and get to take our pick. Now do you understand?”

“Yes, Pa,” Laura said, “But Pa, I thought this was Indian territory. Won’t it make the Indians mad to have to…”

“No more questions, Laura,” Pa said firmly, “Go to sleep.”

The whities do get kicked off Osage Nation land at the end of the story, though, so that’s something.

Since this is a pioneer-type situation, book three is about 60% homesteading work descriptions, 20% near-death experiences, and 20% family bonding exercises.

I thoroughly enjoyed this one.

Book/Song Pairing: Old Dan Tucker (Bruce Springsteen)