It’s time for the Laura Ingalls Wilder reading Challenge for 2018! The basic idea is to read anything by, about, or relating to Laura Ingalls Wilder during February, the month of her birth and death. I have an extensive book list here if you’d like some ideas beyond the Little House series, but if course the Little House series is delightful to read or reread.

In the comments below let us know what you’re planning to read. On Feb. 28 I’ll have a wrap-up post where you can tell us how you did and what you thought, either in the comments or with a link back to your posts. You don’t have to have a blog to participate, but if you do I’d appreciate your linking back here.

Sometimes participants have done projects or made recipes from the series as well. If you do so, please do share with us! Annette at Little House Companion has some activities and other resources.

I like to have some sort of drawing to offer a prize concluding the challenge, and I decided to once again offer one winner the choice of:

The Little House Cookbook compiled by Barbara M. Walker

OR

Laura’s Album: A Remembrance Scrapbook of Laura Ingalls Wilder by William Anderson

If neither of those suits you, I can substitute a similarly-priced Laura book of your choice. To be eligible, leave a comment on the wrap-up post at the end of the month telling us what you read for this challenge. I’ll choose a name through random.org. a week from then to give everyone time to get their last books and posts finished.

This year I am planning to read:

• The First Four Years, the last in the Little House series
• Death On the Prairie by Kathleen Ernst, a modern mystery set around some of the places Laura lived.
• Little Blog on the Prairie by Cathleen Davitt Bell. I had not heard of this, but it happened to catch my eye while I was in the library. It’s about a modern family with problems going to a “Camp Frontier.”
• Last year I bought a set of My First Little House Books, after reading Rebekah’s wonderful review. I haven’t even opened them yet, but I want to look through them and hopefully see if Timothy might sit still long enough to look at one or two.

How about you? Will you be joining us this year? What will you be reading?

Just a reminder that the Laura Ingalls Wilder Reading Challenge starts here a week from tomorrow on Feb. 1! More information and an extended book list is here (you don’t have to choose a book from the list: it’s just there for suggestions).

I’ll have a post here next Thursday where you can sign up to let us know you are participating and what you plan to read. I’m looking forward to seeing what your choices are!

I’ve noticed that a number of people are posting about next year’s reading challenges and plans already, so for those who like to plan ahead, I wanted to let you know that the Laura Ingalls Wilder reading Challenge will take place here next February. This will be our 6th year!

The idea is to read anything by or about Laura Ingalls Wilder during the month of February since her birth and death both occurred in February. Some have also incorporated some LIW activities during that month! It’s not required, but I love to see and hear about it.

I’ll have a sign-up post here on February 1st. You don’t have to have a blog to participate, but if you do, I welcome you to post about the books you read or any activities you might do, and/or post a wrap-up of your LIW reading at the end of the month and link to our wrap-up post here on Feb. 8. If you don’t have a blog, you can let us know in the comments on that post what you read.

A few years ago I posted a list of books that I had come across by or about Laura for those people who wanted to roam beyond just the Little House books. I’ve become aware of so many more, I thought it was time for an updated list. You’re not restricted to this list by any means – these are just some that I have read or heard of. I am sure there’s multitudes more I haven’t heard of yet. I’ve linked the ones I’ve read back to my reviews.

Books by Laura Ingalls Wilder:

• The Little House books, of course
• Little House in the Ozarks: the Rediscovered Writings of Laura Ingalls Wilder (linked to my review), compiled and edited by Stephen Hines, a collection of newspaper columns and magazine articles she wrote before starting the Little House books
• Saving Graces: the Inspirational Writings of Laura Ingalls Wilder (linked to my review), a collection of inspirational or faith-based writings pulled from the columns in Little House in the Ozarks.
• Writings to Young Women from Laura Ingalls Wilder (3 volumes) I’ve not read this yet, but it appears to be the same type of thing: some of the columns from the first book sorted into different categories.
• On the Way Home, a diary of her move with her husband and daughter in a covered wagon from South Dakota to Missouri.
• West From Home (linked to my review), letters Laura wrote to Almanzo while visiting their daughter in San Francisco, where she visited the World’s Fair.
• A Little House Traveler contains the above two books plus the previously unpublished The Road Back, about the first trip she and Almonzo took back to De Smet, where Laura grew up and where they met.
• A Little House Sampler, stories and writings of Laura as well as of Rose Wilder Lane, compiled by William T. Anderson.
• Pioneer Girl (linked to my review), the script of Laura’s first draft of what was to become the Little House books, wonderfully and thoroughly annotated by Pamela Smith Hill.

Biographies of Laura:

• I Remember Laura by Stephen W. Hines (linked to my review), a collection of articles and interviews of people who actually knew Laura.
• There are several, William Anderson’s perhaps the most well known. More on Anderson’s work, and some information on MacBride, is here.

Books about the family by Laura’s daughter, Rose Wilder Lane:

• Let the Hurricane Roar (also known as Young Pioneers)(linked to my review), a fictionalized novel about her grandparents’ “prairie life,” written without her mother’s permission or knowledge
• Free Land: I don’t know if this is about any particular family members, but it is about the same times and situations.

Books about the rest of the family. I have not read any of these, so I don’t know about their authenticity, ow close or far they are from the facts:

• Roger Lea MacBride, Rose’s sole heir and the co-creator and co-producer of the Little House on the Prairie TV series, published a series of books based on Rose’s childhood.
• Little House: The Martha Years by Melissa Wiley, a series of books about Martha Morse, Laura’s great-grandmother
• A series of books about Charlotte Tucker, Laura’s grandmother, also by Melissa Wiley: Little House by Boston Bay, On Tide Mill Lane, The Road from Roxbury, Across the Puddingstone Dam
• Books about Caroline Quiner Ingalls, Laura’s mother, by Maria Wilkes
  Little House in Brookfield
  Little Town at the Crossroads
  Little Clearing in the Woods
  On Top of Concord Hill
  Across the Rolling River
  Little City by the Lake
  A Little House of Their Own
• Old Town in the Green Groves (Little House) by Cynthia Rylant
• Nellie Oleson Meets Laura Ingalls (Little House) by Heather Williams
• Mary Ingalls on Her Own (Little House Sequel) by Elizabeth Cody Kimmel.
• (Thanks to Sherry for several of these!)

For the younger set:

• Little House chapter books.
• My First Little House Books, wonderfully reviewed by Rebekah. I bought a set myself!

Modern books related to Laura:

• The Wilder Life: My Adventures in the Lost World of Little House on the Prairie (linked to my review) by Wendy McClure, irreverent but devoted Laura fan, who visited many of the sites where Laura lived and tried a variety of “prairie” activities, like churning butter

Others:

• Laura’s Album: A Remembrance Scrapbook of Laura Ingalls Wilder by William Anderson
• Little House Cookbook 
• The Laura Ingalls Wilder Country Cookbook, linked to my review
• Little House Crafts Book
• The Little House Guidebook about the different sites and museums associated with Laura.

Music related to Laura:

• Happy Land: Musical Tributes to Laura Ingalls Wilder
• Arkansas Traveler: Music from Little House on the Prairie.

The following are not books, but rather blog posts or sites related to Laura:

• I celebrated her 150th birthday with fun facts, quotes, and links related to her as well as Apple Upside Down Cake made from her cookbook.
• Laura fan extraordinaire and historian Melanie Stringer has a treasure trove of information at Meet Laura Ingalls Wilder.
• A Little House-themed birthday party
• Little House Companion blog: you might find some neat ideas for activities and Laura-related books there.
• 31 Things We learn From Laura Ingalls Wilder
• A Laura costume
• The Homes of Laura Ingalls Wilder by one of her relatives
• Beyond Little House,  the official site for the Laura Ingalls Wilder Legacy and Research Association

I have plans for a couple this February, but I see many more I’d like to get to! I hope you do, too!

(Update: Be sure to check the comments for suggestions others have added.)

(Sharing with Semicolon‘s Saturday Review of Books, Literary Musing Monday, Carole’s Books You Loved)

It’s the last day of February and so it is time to wrap up our Laura Ingalls Wilder Reading Challenge. If you’ve read anything by, about, or related to Laura this month, please share it with us in the comments. You can share a link back to your book reviews, or if you’ve written a wrap-up post, you can link back to that. If you don’t have a blog, just share in the comments what you read and your thoughts about it. We’d also love to hear if you’ve done any “Little House” related activities.

I like to have some sort of drawing to offer a prize concluding the challenge, so I am offering one winner the choice of:

The Little House Cookbook compiled by Barbara M. Walker

OR

Laura’s Album: A Remembrance Scrapbook of Laura Ingalls Wilder by William Anderson

If neither of those suits you, I can substitute a similarly-priced Laura book of your choice. To be eligible, leave a comment on this post by next Tuesday (March 7) telling us what you read for this challenge. I’ll choose a name through random.org. a week from today to give everyone time to get their last books and posts finished.

I’m afraid I can’t send the books outside of the USA due to shipping costs, but if you live outside of the US, I could send an equivalent Amazon gift certificate if you’re able to use it where you are.

Personally, I read and reviewed These Happy Golden Years, covering her first teaching experiences and courtship with Almanzo, and The Laura Ingalls Wilder Country Cookbook, which includes recipes from the scrapbook cookbook she assembled as an adult as well as photos of her Rocky Ridge home and interesting facts about her life. I also celebrated her 150th birthday with fun facts, quotes, and links related to her as well as Apple Upside Down Cake made from her cookbook

Thanks for participating! I hope you enjoyed your time “on the prairie” this month. It always leaves me with renewed admiration for our forebears and renewed thankfulness that I live in the times I do.

Update: The drawing is completed: the winner is Laura! Congratulations!

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Today marks the 150th birthday of Laura Ingalls Wilder, famed write of the Little House on the Prairie books. In honor of her birthday, I made an Apple Upside-Down Cake from The Laura Ingalls Wilder Country Cookbook, compiled from a scrapbook of her recipes (I’ll have more to say about the book in a later post). I actually made it on her birthday eve so I could have the photos ready for today. 🙂

A few of the apples stuck to the pan, but not as many as I feared!

It made a one-layer 8-inch square cake, which I liked because with just the three of us, we don’t need a big cake. I had all of the ingredients on hand, which helped, too. It probably won’t replace this cake as a favorite apple cake, but it was good, especially warm with a bit of ice cream.

I was going to share some fun facts about Laura in honor of her birthday, but then discovered I did that last year! But I’ll repost a few of them and add a few more:

• She was born on February 7, 1867 and died February 10, 1957 (that’s why we hold the Laura Ingalls Wilder Reading Challenge in February). Almanzo was born in February as well (the 13th), 10 years before Laura. According to the cookbook mentioned above, his favorite meal was Swiss Steak and he sometimes got it on his birthday.
• She didn’t start writing the Little House books until she was in her 60s.
• She had originally written one book called Pioneer Girl, but was advised to expand and edit it. This manuscript published for the first time a couple of years ago.
• Pioneer Girl is factual, but the Little House books, though heavily based on Laura’s family, are fictional and arranged a little differently than real life, so there are some differences. For instance, Jack the dog’s death scene was totally fiction. Pa sold him.
• Nellie Oleson was based on a composite of three different girls in Laura’s life.
• Laura couldn’t spell very well — odd since she was a teacher and even wrote of competing well in spelling bees. It may be that in the original draft of Pioneer Girl, which was handwritten for her daughter, she was more concerned about getting it down that concentrating on spelling.
• Before Laura wrote her books, she wrote a column for the Missouri Ruralist: most, if not all, of those columns have been compiled into a book called Little House in the Ozarks (liked to my review.) There are over 140 articles or columns arranged by topic, and the topics range from WWI, women’s progress, and “the greatness and goodness of God,” but most are just observations drawn from everyday life.
• There was a Japanese series based on Laura’s novels called Laura, The Prairie Girl.
• Both Laura and Almanzo were fairly short. She was 4’11” and he was 5’4″. They had the kitchen in the last house built for their height.
• When asked why she didn’t write more books, one time she replied that the money she received from them cost her more in taxes. “She never found taxes on those who had labored their way to prosperity to be an incentive for even more labor” (Stephen W. Hines, I Remember Laura, p. 97). But another time she said that if she wrote more, she’d have to get into some of the sad times of her life (p. 122).
• According to the cookbook, she used a wood cookstove most of the time, even after having an electric one installed just for quick things. Some of the recipes had to be configured for modern day regulated ovens.

Some of my favorite quotes of Laura’s from her columns in Little House in the Ozarks:

• “Let’s be cheerful! We have no more right to steal the brightness out of the day for our own family than we have to steal the purse of a stranger. Let us be as careful that our homes are furnished with pleasant and happy thoughts as we are that the rugs are the right color and texture and the furniture comfortable and beautiful” (p. 37).
• “It is a good idea sometimes to think of the importance and dignity of our everyday duties. It keeps them from being so tiresome; besides, others are apt to take us at our own valuation” (p. 130).
• “Just as a little thread of gold, running through a fabric, brightens the whole garment, so women’s work at home, while only the doing of little things, is like the golden gleam of sunlight that runs through and brightens all the fabric of civilization” (p. 207).
• “Here and there one sees a criticism of Christianity because of the things that have happened [during WWI]…. ‘Christianity has not prevented these things, therefore it is a failure’ some say. But this is a calling of things by the wrong names. It is rather the lack of Christianity that has brought us where we are. Not a lack of churches or religious forms but of the real thing in our hearts” (p. 265).

Favorite moments in Laura’s books:

• When Mr. Edwards endured an arduous journey to bring Christmas presents to the Ingalls girls.
• When Pa played his fiddle in the evenings.
• When they thought they lost their dog, Jack, and he found them.
• The church Christmas party where Laura gets her fur cape and muff.
• The girls bringing in all the firewood during a storm when Ma and Pa are away after they heard about a house of children who froze.
• When Laura admires the kitchen Almanzo built for her in the first home together.

Fun links about Laura:

• The All About Laura Ingalls Wilder Quiz (I got 9 out of 10. )
• Several quizzes about Laura and the books. I haven’t tried any of these yet.
• Meet Laura Ingalls Wilder.
• The Little House Companion blog
• Books Related to Laura Ingalls Wilder

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Welcome to the sixth Laura Ingalls Wilder Reading Challenge! I am especially excited for it this year as Feb. 7 marks her 150th birthday.

The basic idea is to read anything by or about Laura Ingalls Wilder. In the comments below let us know what you’re planning to read. On Feb. 28 I’ll have a wrap-up post where you can tell us how you did and what you thought, either in the comments or with a link back to your posts. You don’t have to have a blog to participate, but if you do I’d appreciate your linking back here.

If you’re looking for ideas for books other than the Little House books themselves, I have a list of Books Related to Laura Ingalls Wilder, with some others listed in the comments there and here.

Sometimes participants have done projects or made recipes from the series as well. If you do so, please do share with us! Annette at Little House Companion has some activities and other resources.

I like to have some sort of drawing to offer a prize concluding the challenge, and I decided to once again offer one winner the choice of:

The Little House Cookbook compiled by Barbara M. Walker

OR

Laura’s Album: A Remembrance Scrapbook of Laura Ingalls Wilder by William Anderson

If neither of those suits you, I can substitute a similarly-priced Laura book of your choice. To be eligible, leave a comment on the wrap-up post at the end of the month telling us what you read for this challenge. I’ll choose a name through random.org. a week from then to give everyone time to get their last books and posts finished.

For myself, I am planning on reading at least These Happy Golden Years, the next to last book in the series. I may go on to The First Four Years – or I may save that for next year.I also recently got a used copy of The Laura Ingalls Wilder Country Cookbook, compiled from recipes found in Laura’s kitchen and supplemented with information about Laura’s life and photos of the Wilders and their home. I plan to at least read the supplemental information: I may even try one or two of the recipes.

How about you? Will you be joining us this year? What will you be reading?