Laura Ingalls Wilder's biography

[Ranb]

I read the "Little House" books when I was a kid and bought the collection for my kids when they were young. I was never a fan of the TV series. I'd read about Wilder's first attempt at a biography called Pioneer Girl years ago, but it seems it has finally been published last year.

http://www.jsonline.com/entertainme...iters-world-growth-b99399147z1-284813631.html

The annotations are supposed to be very interesting. I'm going to buy the book. Anyone read it yet?

Ranb

 

[pgwenthold]

The part about Rose being effectively a "ghostwriter" confuses me. I've heard that argument before, but I have always wondered, if Rose was so responsible for the content of the LIttle House books, why was The First Four Years, which Rose completed after Laura died, so completely different from the rest of the series? The Little House books had charm and depth. The First Four Years was terrible and sketchy.

 

[Tiktaalik]

I have a book called 'Laura' by Donald Zochert, published in 1976. which is a biography of Laura Ingalls Wilder. Supposedly the one I have 'draws on her own unpublished memoirs'. There are a bunch of photos, too. Perhaps the one above is more of an autobiography?

 

[Minoosh]

I haven't thought of her in years! The" Little House" etc. books made a big impact on me. I remember in one, for Christmas the little girl got a penny, a tin cup, an apple and a piece of hard candy ... my mother told me that's what I'd get for Christmas and I cried. I remember a false wall built to store grain during the long winter ... I would love to see if these books match my memories. Also I sometimes read with the age group (10-12? Younger?) that might identify.

Another intense favorite of mine was "Mrs. Mike." What a heartbreaker.

Thanks for the topic.

 

[Ranb]

I read Mrs. Mike decades ago while in high school; will have to find a copy and read it again someday.

Ranb

 

[pgwenthold]

I haven't thought of her in years! The" Little House" etc. books made a big impact on me. I remember in one, for Christmas the little girl got a penny, a tin cup, an apple and a piece of hard candy

I don't remember the apple, but certainly the hard candy, the tin cup, and A WHOLE, SHINY PENNY!!!!!

Little House on the Prairie

IIRC, in Little House in the Big Woods, she got her own doll, instead of having to use a corn cob.

... my mother told me that's what I'd get for Christmas and I cried. I remember a false wall built to store grain during the long winter .

Yep. The Wilder brothers had built a false wall in their store. At one point, Pa Ingalls walked in with a pail, went over to the wall, pulled the plug and filled his pail with wheat. He noticed that the inside walls didn't match the outside.

It was at that point that Almanzo Wilder realized that the town was starving, and he and Cap Garland (I think) went out to search for a farmer rumored to be out on the plains with a lot of wheat. They found him and brought back wheat for the whole town.

The Long Winter is one of my favorite books of all time.

 

[TragicMonkey]

I remember the one when Nellie Olsen stole a hair ribbon from Laura, and Laura told her "I will take what is mine, in fire and blood" and lay siege to the Olsens' with an army and dragons, and crushed their walls, and slew Nellie and fed her to the dragons. All except the heart, which Laura herself ate while it was still hot and dripping. Little House Targaryen on the Prairie.

 

[Doghouse Reilly]

The part about Rose being effectively a "ghostwriter" confuses me. I've heard that argument before, but I have always wondered, if Rose was so responsible for the content of the LIttle House books, why was The First Four Years, which Rose completed after Laura died, so completely different from the rest of the series? The Little House books had charm and depth. The First Four Years was terrible and sketchy.

From what I've read, Rose was not a ghostwriter, but was heavily involved in the writing process with her mother in terms of providing feedback with regard to plotting and reformatting events to fit the context (which was a series meant for children). She often advocated simplifying events or changing certain factual details and characters to create what she felt was better flow or consistency or simplicity. I've read many of the letters they wrote back and forth, and Rose would strenuously campaign for certain changes after reading her mother's manuscripts.

But I would say, based on the letters I've read, that Laura was definitely the "writer". To term Rose a ghostwriter would be a gross overstatement. She was more like a very insistent and hands-on editor. The books were definitely Laura's voice and product.