Tuesday: Non Fiction: On-Topic: Little House on the Prairie

 I grew up watching Little House on the Prairie every week when an episode aired.  It was a show that our entire family watched, and as soon as I was old enough, I started reading the books from the series.

As an adult, I've read the series with my own children and groups of students at school.  And I've continued to look for further information on the Ingalls family.

So, if you are new to Little House on the Prairie and are starting your journey with this new series, I've got several suggestions for furthering your knowledge of Laura and her family.

The place to start, in my opinion, is with the original series.  As a kid I believed everything that Laura wrote to be the absolute truth.  It wasn't until I was an adult that I realized that Laura's books are located in the fiction section for a reason.  Wilder has taken liberties with the timeline of events, but also has omitted a portion of time that was extremely difficult for her family.

Cynthia Rylant's book, Old Town in the Green Groves, was published in 2002, and fills in the missing details from the years the Ingalls family lived in Burr Oak, Iowa, that includes the birth and death of Laura's baby brother, Charlie. 

If you want a non-fiction account of Laura's life, Prairie Fires: The American Dreams of Laura Ingalls Wilder by Caroline Fraser, provides a thorough account of Laura's life.  However, its length might be somewhat of a deterrent, and if you are new to LHOTP, you won't be able to compare Wilder's books to the true story.

The one comment I have heard on repeat in regards to the new series is that Ma's attitude is much different than the original television series.  While the show I watched while growing up shows a Ma that giggles at Pa's antics and seems perfectly content with the fact that Pa decided to drag her and her young children across the country in a covered wagon.  A Ma that isn't happy about the hardships of pioneer life seems a little more accurate.  Caroline by Sarah Miller tells the Little House story through Ma's eyes, and I found this book hard to put down..

While growing up, I had several friends who traveled to the various Laura Ingalls Wilder homesteads on their family vacations.  I've only been to Burr Oak (and that was when I took my own children), but there are people who continue to flock to these destinations.  

Wendy McClure's account of her trips to the Laura Ingalls Wilder homesteads was interesting and I enjoyed it, but had I been to visit these locations myself, I might have enjoyed this book even more.

If you are still needing more information about Laura, this book is one I gifted my oldest daughter.  It contains the original manuscript of Laura's autobiography that her books are based on.  And, it also shows the details that she changed in her books.

I have yet to sit down and watch the new series.  I'm not sure when (or if) I will do that, but I am excited that a new group of kids are being introduced to Little House on the Prairie, and I'm interested to see if there are any students who want to read these books and check them out from the library.