Reviewed by Bev Scott Reading and preparing this review of Prairie Fires has been a long-term endeavor. Caroline Fraser has done a brilliant work describing the life of Laura Ingalls Wilder in the historical context of the time. She won both a Pulitzer and the National Book Critics Award. She begins the historical detail before Laura Ingalls was born in 1867 […]
Dakota Territory
Racism in the Little House Books?
Laura Ingalls Wilder is in the book news again. There are calls to remove her books from children’s libraries! ALA re-considers its award name The American Library Association (ALA) is considering removing her name from their life-time achievement in children’s literature award. The librarians are re-considering the name of the medal based on the treatment of Native Americans […]
Laura Ingalls Wilder, American Author
Did you read one of Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little House book series when you were growing up? Or perhaps you watched the “Little House on the Prairie” television show based on her life which aired between 1974 and 1982. There was only the enormous empty prairie, with grasses blowing in waves of light and shadow across it, […]
Book Review: “Rosette: A Novel of Pioneer Michigan” by Cindy Rinaman Marsch
Reviewed by Bev Scott The book Rosette opens in 1888. Rosette reflects on her decision to leave her marriage two years earlier. Back then, she abandoned her children who were mostly grown and took the train from Michigan to Dakota Territory. There, she would live with her oldest son. This reflection written by the author, […]
Book Review: “Dakota: Or What’s a Heaven For” by Brenda K. Marshall
Reviewed by Bev Scott This complex historic epic brings together politicians, the Northern Pacific Railroad, land-hungry men, European immigrants, especially Kristen and her family from Norway, with the main protagonist Frances Bingham in the Dakota Territory of the late nineteenth century. Frances is married to Percy, an educated but lazy man addicted to his flask […]
