Book 5/196: The United States of America

The ”Little House on the Prairie” series by Laura Ingalls Wilder, is a book series about pioneer life, based on the life of Laura herself. The books have inspired a tv-series as well, although the latter has taken some artistic freedom in it’s execution. Representing The United States in my #Readingtheworld project

Genre: Historical/Biography

Summary:

We follow Laura Ingalls from the age of five, living in the great Wisconsin woods with her mother, father and older sister. They have limited contact with other people as the forest is vast and the nearest city is a few hours away by horse carriage. We get a glimpse of big and small moments in her life, some with lasting impressions. We go with Laura through a time of nomadic settler life, living in a prairie wagon, in an earthen cave like home by a creek, in cities and on farms on the prairie. We meet friends and bullies, and we see her grow up to have her own little family and venture off on her own. All in 10 books.

Verdict:

I am probably really biased, since I remember this as being the first ‘Grown up books’ that I ever read. My mom gave me the first book in the series, because I devoured all the books we had at home from an early age, and this was the only one left in the house, fitted for such a young girl. I read it and identified with Laura, despite the first book starting with Laura being 5-6 years old. I must have been around 8 when I started reading it, and I absolutely fell in love with the simplicity of Laura’s world, yet it all seemed so content, happy and filled with adventure and dangers.

USA_Wisconsin_Bookcover — The Little House in the Big Woods: USA

Her world is so colorful yet bland, so adventurous yet still for the most part. It is the unfolding of a true story, a real little girl, growing up in a world so far off, yet something always resonated with me. She isn’t a great poet, she doesn’t have a particularly courageous heart and there is nothing grand about her. She is this amazingly ordinary girl, who powers through by being real, having a temper, loving her family yet still sometimes being slightly envious of her pretty and well-behaved older sister. That is a story well told.

The books made me laugh, cry, love, wonder and want to learn more. More about the settlers, the prairies and the natives. It made me hungry for new worlds and stories and it really started my love for reading.

I still cry and laugh just as hard, and every time I pick up one of these 10 books, it’s like going home. I even have Laura featured on my tattoo. (I have a half sleeve on my left arm, sorry grandma)

I’d recommend this to everybody, everywhere, and yes, I am probably biased!