When you think of Thanksgiving, pioneer Laura Ingalls Wilder is probably not the first image that comes to mind, but maybe it should be. Most of the traditions that we associate with Thanksgiving, including tracing it back to the Pilgrims, began with the pioneers and the Victorians. Onion vs. Sage The most famous Laura Ingalls…
One More Visit to the Little House: The Selected Letters of Laura Ingalls Wilder
“I’d like to write to the folks in Wisconsin” [Ma said to Pa] “If you mail a letter now, they can write this winter, and then we can hear from them next spring.“ Little House on the Prairie These words, read to my third grade classroom, made a lasting impression on me. I thought to…
In the Kitchen with Laura Ingalls Wilder
There are many different ways to be a Laura Ingalls Wilder fan. Some people research topics in depth. Some people wear a sunbonnet and buy a Charlotte doll. Some people try to get autographs from as many actors/actresses from the “Little House on the Prairie” TV show as they can. I’ve done some of all…
Laura’s Frontier Fairy Tale
“Once upon a time, sixty years ago, a little girl lived in the Big Woods of Wisconsin, in a little gray house made of logs.” Little House in the Big Woods It is the opening line of an American classic, beloved by millions, instantly recognizable even to those who have never read the book Little…
Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Artistic Development
As a child, I loved many children’s book characters—Louisa May Alcott’s Jo, Lucy Maud Montgomery’s Anne, and Maud Hart Lovelace’s Betsy—because, like me, they wanted to be writers.1 But it never occurred to me that the Little House series also tells a story of artistic development. Especially in the later books, Wilder focuses on the…
To Read and Write and Cipher
In On the Banks of Plum Creek, Laura is reluctant to go to school for the first time, but Pa tells her she should appreciate the opportunity: “…it isn’t everybody that gets a chance to learn to read and write and cipher,” he says. Pa explains that education is important to the family. “Your Ma…