Skip to main content

My Love for All Things Laura Ingalls Wilder

Picture from www.readingrainbow.com

When I was a little girl my aunt bought me a copy of Little House in the Big Woods for a holiday gift (I can't remember what holiday) and I completely fell in love with Laura Ingalls Wilder.  I wish I had a picture of my copy of this book because it is very obvious that it was well-loved.  My aunt continued to buy me each book in the series for holidays and birthdays until I had the full series.  I devoured each book and read them over and over again all the way up through my teen years.  I had the Little House cookbook and a Mary and Laura porcelain doll and I dreamed of living in the pioneer days.  I even read a biography of Laura Ingalls Wilder when I was fourth or fifth grade.  I just thought she was awesome.

Fast forward to now, I still have my entire set of Little House books and they look much like the picture above.  They are in a box at my mom's house and I can't wait to get them out to share with Julia.  What's even more fun is that now that I live in the Midwest, I live within driving distance of all of the Laura Ingalls Wilder museums, one of which is located in the same state that I live in.  You can bet when Julia is older, we will be visiting them all.  One of my fellow coworkers is also a LIW fan so we have spent a lot of time fan girling about her books and her life.  (Yes, I'm a nerd, I know.)

Why am I posting this random Laura Ingalls Wilder love fest, you ask?  Missouri State University is currently offering a Massive Open Online Class (MOOC) on Laura Ingalls Wilder's life and early works.  It's a free eight week class and it's open to anyone.  I'm currently enrolled and I think it's pretty awesome.  In addition to reading about Wilder, there are lectures to watch and discussions to participate in.  We will also be reading Wilder's first four books this semester as well as Laura Ingalls Wilder: A Writer's Life. I'm really enjoying it!  We will start reading her books next week and I will be posting reviews of them here.  I haven't read her books since I was in high school so I look forward to reading them as an adult.  

If anyone is interested in joining in on the class, you can check it out here!  You can participate as much or as little as you want.

Have any of you read the Little House books?  If not, are there any books you read as a child that really touched you?

Labels

Labels:

Comments

  1. KristenOctober 26, 2014 at 10:42 AM

    I didn't read LIW until I was in college and I suspect that is too old to pick up the magic for the first time. But how very cool that the class is out there and freely available. I might have to share with a friend of mine who is a huge fan.

    ReplyDelete
  2. ShoshanahOctober 26, 2014 at 3:15 PM

    When I read The Little House books in 4th grade I actually read my mom's old copies. I still actually have them, but they're pretty much falling apart at this time. Technically still readable, although I'm not sure they'll last long enough to be read by any daughters I might have. Although I have been wanting to reread the series lately, and I do think they're in good enough condition to make that happen!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Review and Giveaway: "Distant Signs" by Anne Richter

Synopsis: Distant Signs is an intimate portrait of two families spanning three generations amidst turbulent political change, behind and beyond the Berlin Wall. In 1960s East Germany, Margret, a professor’s daughter from the city, meets and marries Hans, from a small village in Thuringia. The couple struggle to contend with their different backgrounds, and the emotional scars they bear from childhood in the aftermath of war. As East German history gradually unravels, with collision of the personal and political, their two families’ hidden truths are quietly revealed. An exquisitely written novel with strongly etched characters that stay with you long after the book is finished and an authentic portrayal of family life behind the iron curtain based on personal experience of the author who is East German and was 16 years old at the fall of the Berlin Wall. Why do families repeat destructive patterns of behaviour across generations? Should the personal take precedence over...
Post a Comment
Read more

Mailbox Monday (49)

It's time for another Mailbox Monday post!  Once again I could not resist the cheap ebooks that Amazon and Barnes and Noble were promoting this week.  I really need to stop!  I already have more than I can read.  I also was able to spend a little time browsing at the library and I came home with a nice stack of books.  These days, I hardly ever get to spend time at the library by myself for more than a minute or two so it was wonderful to have time to just wander and see what I could find. Purchased (for kindle): The Color of Secrets by Lindsay Ashford The One I Was by Eliza Graham House of Bathory by Linda Lafferty   Purchased (for nook): One Night in Winter by Simon Sebag Montefiore  Becoming Queen Victoria by Kate Williams From the Library: The Messenger by Daniel Silva   The Ripper's Wife by Brandy Purdy Hotel Moscow by Talia Carner Brazen by Katherine Longshore What books did you get...
15 comments
Read more

Review and Giveaway: "This Son of York" by Anne Easter Smith

Synopsis: Now is the winter of our discontent, Made glorious summer by This Son of York…” — William Shakespeare, Richard III Richard III was Anne’s muse for her first five books, but, finally, in This Son of York he becomes her protagonist. The story of this English king is one of history’s most compelling, made even more fascinating through the discovery in 2012 of his bones buried under a car park in Leicester. This new portrait of England’s most controversial king is meticulously researched and brings to vivid life the troubled, complex Richard of Gloucester, who ruled for two years over an England tired of war and civil strife. The loyal and dutiful youngest son of York, Richard lived most of his short life in the shadow of his brother, Edward IV, loyally supporting his sibling until the mantle of power was thrust unexpectedly on him. Some of his actions and motives were misunderstood by his enemies to have been a deliberate usurpation of the throne, but thr...
Post a Comment
Read more