Adults--I have your readymade excuse: oh, I keep them around because I have nieces and nephews that visit.
Are you a parent of young kids? Do you have children on your gift list? Have you lurched through your own childhood without experiencing the joy of reading Laura Ingalls Wilder? If you answered ‘yes’ to any of these questions, then today’s Tis the season…books! post is for you.
Laura Ingalls Wilder, if you did not know, wrote an autobiographical series of children’s books recounting her childhood in Wisconsin, Minnesota, Kansas and Missouri. You’ve no doubt heard of them because there was a moderately successful** television series based on them. Perhaps you may have a built-in bias against them, based on the old adage “familiarity breeds contempt” and if that is the case, I beg you to forget what you think you know and consider these books afresh.
I remember reading them as a youngster myself, starting with Little House in the Big Woods, and loving them well before the tv series started. All my friends did. We got them from the library and I remember we had to swap them because there weren’t enough copies for us to read simultaneously. I admit that I re-read these a couple years ago when my son was reading them. What a pleasant re-read they were, too.
I decided to recommend them after I chanced across this Catholic Exchange article which puts into context some of the politics behind Laura Ingalls Wilder’s publication of the books. Did you know or suspect that they were anti-New Deal? I didn’t but I can certainly see how they could be viewed that way. These books are about hardworking men and women, self-sufficient, industrious, family-centered, faithful, independent. Values that most parents want to pass on to their kids. Plus, the stories are really charming. If you don’t have kids that you can give these to, or if the kids live outside of your house (thereby denying you the ability to sneak in your own reading), then get yourself a copy!
I also recommend that you buy the books as a set because keeping the titles straight and in order is just too darn difficult.
** hehe
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