As a child, I was absolutely enamored with Laura Ingalls Wilder. Not only did I read and reread all of her books, but I also read the books about her mother, her grandmother, her great-grandmother, and her daughter. I had a dress with a hoopskirt and several bonnets for different occasions, just like I imagined she would wear, a covered wagon nightlight that I bought myself because it reminded me of her, and a book of sewing patterns so I could make aprons and dolls like hers. When I was eleven years old, my grandmother took me on the ultimate road trip - to see her house in Mansfield, Missouri. I remember that it was amazing and yet almost sad because it was as though I had destroyed a dream. She became a real person for me when I saw her house, not the hero I had built her up to be. It was not until years later after having read her official biography that I appreciated how much she had meant to me during my childhood in spite of the fact that she was different than my imagination had led me to believe.
So, naturally, when went looking for a biography to read, guess whose I chose? Laura Ingalls Wilder! I have already read the adult version of her biography Laura Ingalls Wilder: A Biography, but I was curious to read a version whose intended audience is the same age as that of her books. Prairie Girl: The Life of Laura Ingalls Wilder is written by the same author as the adult biography - William Anderson - a historian, a specialist on Laura's life, and a director at The Laura Ingalls Wilder Home and Museum. Because it was written by Anderson, I was confident in the authenticity of it, unlike some of the other cheesy biographical options about her located nearby on the library shelf.
Overall, I enjoyed the simplified version of her biography. Not only did it cover important events in Laura's life, but it was written in language that a child reading her books would be accustomed to. It was also organized in a way that any reader of her books would recognize, with chapter titles resembling that of the books I loved so much. I also appreciated that Anderson included expressions and phrases that I remembered from the books, and I am sure other readers would as well. For example when describing Laura, he said, "[Laura] was so short that Pa called her half-pint. He said she was like a pint of cider, half drunk up (11).
Aside from just describing the events in Laura's life, Anderson also did a fantastic job portraying the real people in Laura's life and comparing them to the books. Many of them shared recognizable characteristics, and as such brought a smile to my face. Mary was portrayed as the perfect daughter, Laura as the tomboy, Pa as the hardworking farmer, etc. just as they were in the book series.
Another aspect about the book that I greatly enjoyed was the fact that it interwove throughout it how Laura always loved writing and only came to be a professional writer late in life with encouragement from her daughter. There were poems she had written as a child included, mentions of the journals she kept, descriptions of her teaching career, and remarks about how much she enjoyed school as a child. I think that this would encourage students to do what they love because it could eventually become their career!
My only criticism is that the biography sort of lets children in on the secret that Laura didn't always tell the whole truth when she wrote her books. It was only through the biography, in fact, that I found out that she fabricated the order of events in some of her books to make it flow better and left out years of her life because they didn't fit correctly. This was the one thing that I hard the hardest time coming to terms with, and for all those other obsessed little readers out there, I worry about destroying their dream too early. Is that silly?
I loved Laura Ingalls Wilder when I was younger too, though I wish I had had hoop skirts like you. I'm very intrigued to read this book and find out how the characters emerge in her biography. I don't think it is silly in the least that you worry the book might destroy a child's dream. For that reason, I would perhaps steer clear of the book for classes in which children read Laura Ingalls Wilder frequently. However, I can also see how the book would be loved by these Laura fanatics. It's a very difficult call to make.
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