My review of Little House on the Prairie

Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Charles and Caroline Ingalls take their family, Mary, Laura, and baby Carrie, by covered wagon from the big woods in Wisconsin to the prairie near Independence, Missouri. This second book in Laura Ingalls Wilder's series again shows pioneer resourcefulness and contentment with simple pleasures. This book has the added intrigue of Indians and soldiers and federal government interference. Also interesting to me are instances of neighbors helping neighbors build barns, dig wells, and nurse sickness. Although the family had coins, pioneer economics consisted mostly of bartering services and trading furs for goods like a plow and seeds.

I have mixed emotions about Wilder's portrayal of her parents' strict discipline. On one hand, my stomach knots whenever Laura reminds herself that "children should be seen and not heard." That feels harsh and oppressive to me. On the other hand, my heart is quieted by her tenacious desire to obey out of a visceral understanding of her dependence on her Ma and Pa for protection and provision. This seems like a critical spiritual submission lesson.



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