Little House on the Prairie Series, by Laura Ingalls Wilder, Part I

I have never read the Little House on the Prairie series and I finally decided it was high time I did. Quite frankly, I'm very glad that I have waited until now to do so. The stories are far more interesting to me, I think, because we are currently in the process of building a log home to live in ourselves. That makes certain aspects of these stories a bit more applicable and meaningful. I was surprised by other interesting tidbits that I ran across as I worked my way through. Today I have read as far as On the Banks of Plum Creek. I anticipate finishing this series in the coming week, and I'll post my thoughts on the later half of the books then.

Of course all things start in that Little House in the Big Woods. So far this was the least memorable tale for me. Sure, it sets the series up and tells you where they came from and why. Quite frankly, I don't understand Pa and I likely never will. The family was warm and cozy and surrounded by friends and family. Pa felt the need to go adventuring though and that lead them out of the Big Woods eventually. I suppose I should be grateful for people like him who were willing to leave the life of "comfort" that they knew and strike out to explore new territory. Living on the West Coast myself, I am grateful. I just wouldn't have done it, lemme tell ya!

Little House on the Prairie is certainly the most popular title in the series and I have to confess that I do not really know why. I'm frankly surprised that it receives the notoriety that it does in today's society. Why, you ask? Ma's dislike/distrust of the Indians. Now, grant it, Laura is just relating the general feeling of the population of the time towards Indians. They were not understood, their land was being invaded and the white man (in this case, Pa) didn't seem to care. I thought Pa had an interesting perspective of expecting the government to just give him the land that the Indians lived on. I'm not going to state my opinion about this one way or another. History is history in this case. I'm just a wee bit surprised that this book is promoted so heavily. Sure, it does explain life on the Prairie.

I liked this book VERY much from the standpoint of building a log home. Pa announced he found a spot for them to live on the Kansas prairie and I thought to myself, "But yeah....where are the supplies for the house coming?" Turns out Pa had to spend days hauling logs from the creek bed and then he had to put the thing together for himself (and Ma had to help - bleh!). Nowadays you just "order" a "kit" and a log home company comes with crane and stacks your house for you. It's much easier and way more romantic NOW than it was back THEN! On a personal note, here's a picture of our house in progress:



Next up, of course, is Farmer Boy, which breaks up the tale of the Ingalls family and gives us a peek at Almanzo's childhood. His family was much more wealthy than the Ingalls. Of course, they were also well established on the East Coast where goods were more readily accessible and you didn't have to work quite so hard as the pioneers did. For my personality, were I living in that time frame, I would have stayed on the East Coast. I'm too wimpy for great explorations and the sacrifice of a good bed. Heh. I like Almanzo's character so I'm already happy about the fact that he and Laura marry. The most interesting thing in this book is that, without the slightest mention of God's involvement in their lives, He was. (Well, He IS.)

Laura relates the story of the night when Almanzo's father sold two of his horses for two hundred dollars. Unable to make it to the bank, they had to keep the money in the house, which worried Almanzo's mother something awful. Although she was anti-dog, it "just so happened" that a stray dog appeared on their doorstep and was befriended by the children that same night that the money was in the house. Buglars had attempted to come and steal the money but were chased away by this stray dog. The next morning the dog was gone but footprints were found on the property. A God-thing? I think so. See, even if you don't recognize that God is active in this world and even in your life -- it is a truth. He protects His people for a reason and a purpose -- whether they choose to acknowledge it or not. How many times in my life have I not been aware of His care for me? I'm thankful for it nevertheless. It's stories like the stray dog that drive the point home sometimes.

Lastly (for this week) is On the Banks of Plum Creek. This book made me like Pa even less. I know he had good excuses for having to leave the family to go find work. I guess I'm just disappointed that up to this point he's been incredibly resourceful and unwilling to be "beholden" to anyone. In this book he's banking on wheat that hasn't been grown and throws his family into debt which results in him having to leave them for months at a time to go find work elsewhere. It's just a sad situation, really. If I were Ma, I'd be a bit put out with him. Especially when he failed to heed her advice about going to town when a blizzard could have been on its way (which it was) and resulted him stumbling about in the snow until he found shelter.

Pa always has a good outlook on life -- but I think he would have been an EXASPERATING person to know! I like steady and I think Ma did too. Pa doesn't strike me as steady enough. But then, that's probably why the west was settled. It's those crazy adventure people who are able to smile against the odds that frequently make things happen.

The last thing I'd note about this book, and the second most memorable thing, is the grasshoppers. Can anyway say "EWWW" louder than myself? The swarm of grasshoppers was just downright disgusting. There's no getting around it. It's hard to believe that would happen outside of the plagues of Egypt when locusts swarmed the earth but....I cannot image living through something like that.

I really am enjoying this series and am anxiously ready to hop off onto the next book. So here endeth Part I of this review.

Stay tuned for more . . .