Laura Ingalls Wilder: My "Favorite Novelist Forever"

Books are captivating to me. As a ten year old, I loved reading. After reading Little House in the Big Woods, the first in the Little House series, I was hooked and proclaimed Laura Ingalls Wilder my "favorite novelist forever". I rapidly devoured the books and read them again over a ten year period. Wilder lived during a time period I have always been fascinated with'"the late 1800's and incorporated the perfect mix of memoir with the time period. Wilder's stories were a means of escapism during a rocky childhood and nurtured my love of reading.

Laura Ingalls was born in 1867. She spent her youth in Kansas, Minnesota, Iowa, and South Dakota. Her father loved to move the family but her mother was instrumental in the family settling in DeSmet, South Dakota. Laura Ingalls married Almanzo Wilder in 1885. Laura's second book in the Little House series is written based on Almanzo's youth. The other Little House books are based on her experiences as a pioneer era girl. Laura and Almanzo spent time with his family in Minnesota, and in Westville, Florida before finally settling down in Mansfield, MO on the Rocky Ridge Farm.

Wilder was a schoolteacher, then a columnist/editor, and finally an author of children's novels. Her daughter Rose inspired her to write the Little House books. Laura Ingalls Wilder once stated she wrote the books to show how much America had changed in her life. Wilder's interest in preserving the past influenced my own love of listening to stories from my parents of their past.

The Little House series of books follows Laura from age 5 in Little House in the Big Woods to her final posthumously published work in the series '"The First Four Years. The First Four Years is my favorite novel of Wilder's. The book was, for me, an introduction to the fact that everyone has challenging times. The First Four Years presents the life struggle through a fire, crop failure, illness, etc. As a ten year old, I didn't appreciate The First Four Years as much as I do now. Little House in the Big Woods was my favorite Wilder novel before rediscovering The First Four Years as an older teenager. .

Laura Ingalls Wilder was a writer of novels meant for children but adults would benefit greatly from reading them. Two years ago I read each work one more time. Laura's experiences as a child provide a rejuvenating sense of life being worth living. Her memories of life as a pioneer girl through good times and bad remind us of a connection we all have. Life isn't always good but it isn't always bad either. I can't wait to introduce my children to Wilder's work.