If you like… Laura Ingalls Wilder

I’m a midwestern girl through and through.  Sure, I had a couple of brief forays to the West (Colorado and Wyoming) and the South (Kentucky, twice) in my childhood thanks to my dad’s job, but I’m a Minnesota girl (raised in Illinois & Wisconsin).

I fell in love with the prairie while in college in central Illinois, and I started reading everything Willa Cather had ever written.  But I’ve already blogged about that.  This post is about another prairie writer who has influenced midwestern girls for years: Laura Ingalls Wilder.

Two titles, in particular, stick out to me.  Borrowed Names looks at Laura Ingalls Wilder’s influence on her daughter in a novella-in-verse published with the stories of two other women of the time and their daughters.  Jeanine Atkins writes,

“These three women not only shared a birth year but also a devotion to work and motherhood. They raised daughters who lived in a world that changed as quickly as theirs had, and who changed with it. The only child of Laura Ingalls Wilder inherited the family wanderlust and became a world traveling journalist.”

May B. by Caroline Starr Rose is also a novel-in-verse that was inspired by Laura Ingalls Wilder.  Rose writes in the author’s note,

“Growing up, I fell in love with the Little House books and talked about Laura Ingalls Wilder as if she were someone I knew personally.  In the late nineteenth century, when Laura was a girl, schoolwork focused on recitation and memorization and favored students able to do those things well. When I became a teacher, I grew curious about what life must have been like for frontier children who found schooling a challenge. Would a girl who couldn’t read well have been kept out of school? “

In the book, May struggles with dyslexia, though it isn’t named, and it is a fascinating look at history through the lens of a strong, intelligent young girl.  Read more about it in Jen Robinson’s Book Page review.

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Other books pictured: Addie Across the Prairie by Laurie Lawlor, Prairie Songs by Pam Conrad, and My Prairie Year by Brett Harvey

Want more reader’s advisory?  Check out previous “If you like…” posts.

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If you like… Willa Cather

“As I looked about me I felt that the grass was the country as the water is the sea.  The red of the grass made all the great prairie the color of wine-stains, or of certain seaweeds when they are first washed up.  And there was so much motion in it; the whole country seemed, somehow, to be running.”

–from My Antonia by Willa Cather

I fell in love with the prairie when I read My Antonia several years ago, and I quickly read several more of Willa Cather’s books in search of more.   Years later, I find myself still drawn to books that seem like they will capture the same depth and beauty that Cather portrayed in her books.  I read A Lantern in her Hand by Bess Streeter Aldrich only to find a story, less of the prairie, and more of a woman’s choice to give up everything for her family.  It wasn’t quite what I was looking for.  Later I read Winter Wheat by Mildred Walker.  This was closer to what I wanted.  This coming-of-age novel follows a young girl as she determines what is important to her and gets to know her parents for who they are.  It was a good book, but not quite it either.

Then I found Giants in the Earth.  In this story, which feels like a saga but only covers about 4 or 5 years, several Norwegian families settle in an isolated area in the Dakotas.  The struggle of life on the prairie is particularly illustrated in one family in which the father/husband seems almost manic in his drive to success and the wife/mother falls deeper and deeper into depression due to loneliness.   It was quite powerful, and I highly recommend it to anyone looking for a story to explore the pioneer life further after reading Willa Cather.

If you want to put a visual to the quote above from My Antonia, you might take a look at Elsie’s Bird by Jane Yolen.  This picture book, illustrated by David Small (I blogged about his memoir here), follows a young girl adjust from city life to pioneer life.  Small’s illustrations really capture the movement and beauty of the prairie.  The book is perfect to share this particular time and place with elementary school age kids. (It was a bit long for my preschooler.)  Highly recommended.

 

You may also be interested in some previous If You like… posts.

FCC Disclaimer: All books mentioned were reviewed from library copies.  All book links are Amazon Affiliate links.

If You Like… The Grapes of Wrath

Sanora Babb began writing Whose Names are Unknown in the 1930′s.  She worked for the Farm Security Administration, and she based her novel on first-hand experience working with migrant farmers and their families.  Whose Names are Unknown was slated for publication when John Steinbeck’s book hit the best-seller lists and eventually won the Pulitzer Prize.  The publisher pulled Babb’s book saying that there was no room in the market for another book on the same subject.

Whose Names are Unknown was finally published in 2004 (only two years before Sanora Babb died at the age of 98) to much critical acclaim.  The book is less a competitor to The Grapes of Wrath and more of a  counterpart to it.  Steinbeck created an epic fable-like masterpiece that is still one of my favorite books while Babb took a more journalistic approach.  Her characters are not archetypes; they are people.  The Booklist review put it this way: “A slightly less political, more female-oriented, companion piece to The Grapes of Wrath.”

Read more about Sanora Babb and her work in this online exhibit from the University of Texas at Austin.

Hey, Homeschoolers!

Author Tanita S. Davis is giving away copies of the new paperback edition of Mare’s War, which a really great book.  Have you seen the new paperback cover?  Very striking.  Love it.

Anyway, if you are a homeschooling parent, a homeschool kid, or a librarian who works with homeschoolers, you really don’t want to miss this.  Also, check out the Homeschool Teacher’s Unit on Mare’s War while you’re there.

 

Review: Devil’s Paintbox

Aiden and Maddy have been fighting to survive on their own since their parents and siblings died. Most of their neighbors have moved on due to the harsh conditions in the Midwest in 1865. The two have stuck together, worked hard, and kept themselves alive. Barely. The kids take the first opportunity out of there, which turns out to be a wagon train bound for Seattle. The two promise to work in a logging camp as their ticket out of lonely survival living.

Like any good saga, the story covers a lot of ground. It is easy to lose yourself in the richness of the journey. I must admit that I was much more keyed into the cross country journey portion of the book over the life in the logging camp portion. Interesting subplots about small pox and vaccines tie the parts of the story together. It doesn’t always seem realistic, but the details make it clear that a lot of research went into getting the historical back drop just right. Fans of historical fiction, whether teens for not, will likely appreciate that. Elements of survival and adventure may draw in some readers, and patient readers will see this saga to its drawn out conclusion.   I was glued to the page for most of the book and found myself experiencing the whole range of emotions as the action in the book brought hope and despair again and again. I was fascinated by the details (including the author’s note), and some readers will likely be just as drawn in as I was.

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The Devil’s Paintbox by Victoria McKernan
Knopf (January 2009)
Honors: Publisher’s Weekly Starred Review, School Library Journal Starred Review
Blog Reviews: Becky’s Book Reviews, Book Talk, Inkweaver Review, Flamingnet Young Adult Book Blog
Read More: Teen Historical Fiction

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