Laura Ingalls Wilder fans....

[Avonlea]

I am wondering how many of us there are here, and what intensity does your level of adoration reach???

I have all my copies given to me as a little girl,I have had a Laura Dress made for me by an Aunt, complete with bonnet and shoes.
I have ben into almost every state she was ever in..and been to her home in deSmet S.D.

When I was in charge of the fourth grade kids over the summer at the daycare I worked in, I decided we would have a book to read every day( I would choose and read it) and then when we were done I BAWLED in front of the kids as I read the final chapter of "Little House On The Prarie", and that day we also had a "pioneer feast" which I made from scratch for the kids.
I served venision, cornbread, baked beans, fried cornbread mush , homemade jam, and a few other odds and ends.

I love her books, I love reading them over and over, and I get something new almost every time.

The first time I re-read "The First Four Years" after I had become an adult and a married woman and a mother really struck me to my very core.Her life was so hard!!!!!I am glad that Rose put the book togethor, because I think that was such a moving and valuable part of her Mothers life.

I would love to get my hands on the books Rose has written, but I have never been able to find any.Tips anyone???

Lauras fan.......Rebekah!

[joesmom]

i love laura!

although i have never been to her homeplace i would LOVE to go someday. i also would be thrilled to find the books rose has written~ no luck there so far.

i have even watched all the little house episodes @ least twice even though i realize it is not true to the books.

i love laura!

jenny

[khrisday]

For some reason, I never read these as a child- I did watch the TV show though. I am reading them now to the kids, and we have fallen in love with them. We are up to On The Shores of Silver Lake (And we read Farmer Boy). We have a replica one room schoolhouse near us that is just fascinating, the kids call it the Little House school. We'd love to go and see her birthplace sometime. We found a Little House cookbook and Inside Laura's Little House which has background information, recipe's, crafts, and anecdotal information as well as photo's. Very interesting.

[Kelly71]

I was a Little House fan, more of the TV show though. I read a few of the books, but adored Michael Landon and Melissa Gilbert.

[jempd]

I don't really associate the TV show with Laura Ingalls Wilder, as it was really just a take-off on the books, wasn't it?

I never was the kind of fan to the point of visiting her home, but I have the best memories of my mother or oldest sister reading them aloud at bedtime. I read them myself, too, multiple times, and I love the illustrations. I was in a bookstore the other day and saw them displayed, and had such a strong rush of memory. Isn't it amazing how much favorite books affect us when we're children?

[carrots]

I had a "Laura dress" too! And now my little girl really loves it and I couldn't be happier . I am really looking forward to reading all the books again. I am so glad that we found the shorter picture books based on "Little House" that are just right for her age (she is 3).
Jessie

[doulamoon]

I made dh stop at Wall Drug (yuck!) just to see her portrait which hangs there last summer - my sister and i had bonnets and wore them out playing "Laura & Mary." We both re-read the series when pregnant, thinking we wouldn't have time again for years.

[wolfmom]

count me in as another laura fan! I adore the books and haven't actually read them in a while. Melissa Gilbert was my childhood hero! I loved the tv show but the books too. The funny thing is that I looked so much like her as a child - right down to the buck teeth! Even now I occasionally get people who tell me I look like her.

[Viola]

I was a huge fan for so long. I still have all the original books I got, but I need to buy a new set to read to my daughter. I have that collection of writings of Laura Ingalls Wilder (Little House in the Ozarks), but I don't have some of the earlier ones like On The Way Home or West From Home.

I've always wanted to visit the museum, but it was never an option. I guess it is now, but I'll wait until my kids are older.

Amazon.com has some Rose Lane Wilder books, including Islam and the Discovery of Freedom, Young Pioneers, Free Land, Let the Hurricane Roar, and Old Home Town. I didn't check Powell's but they may have the same titles.

I was also a fan of the show. I think my problem was that as a child reading those books, once I hit a certain age, kind of the preteen age, I got so immersed in them that it was hard to live in my own life. I always hated my life which seemed ugly and bad, and just thought if I could have been born in her time, I would be so much happier. I remember getting so angry at that Laura in Little House in the Big Woods who thought her baby sister was prettier than Baby Carrie. I remember feeling such a shame at knowing I could not measure up to her--heck, she got a whipping just because she slapped her sister. My sister and I hit each other all the time! I just felt like I could never be as good as she was, but I used to dream of writing my own stories like the Little House series. I guess eventually I grew out of my moroseness. Wow, I'm certainly glad now that I didn't live in her time.

[Hilary Briss]

What would Henry Rollins say, Avonlea???

I've mentioned this here before, but I'll bring it up again. My father grew up on a farm in Iowa and he liked Laura's books so much that he wrote her a letter, and she wrote back to him.

I was never that wild about her stuff, sorry.

[Avonlea]

Yeah,but Hilaary..I don't like her THAT way..ha ha!!

Henry..hmm.He has not popped into my head for some time.

Unfortuantly last night I styaed up past two am watching this AWFUL Fransisco Pallini movie made in the late sixties.I could not follow it and yet it was like a trsin wreck that I could not take my eyes off of.It was BAD!!

Then I had a dream about Ed Chigliac from Northern Exposure..this is getting complicated..bear with me ok. There was an episode where he found a ring in a fish and if he had the ring on he saw things from Fransisco Woiedoes movies...I had never seen one of his films at the time and had no CLUE what the referances and etc were about.

OK, So I dreamt about watching movies with Ed Chigliac.Don't tell Henry....

PS, I think it is great your dad heard from her.I think that would be enat. What did she say? If I can be nosey...Was he a little boy when he wrote?

[Hilary Briss]

I'm not sure how old he was at the time, I would guess around 10 or 12. I don't remember much of what the letter said, although she did say she was happy to hear that he had enjoyed her books. She also said that they had had some hard times growing up, but also many good times. I'm kind of curious to see the letter again myself, although I don't know how easily he can find the letter... he's terribly unorganized. I guess that's why he became a professor.

[hydrangea]

I loved those books and read them over and over. I used to fantasize about bringing Laura to the present and introducing her to modern technology and seeing how she reacted to it all. I know. Strange fantasy.

I have tried to read the books to my daughters, but they aren't interested yet. Not enough animals for them, :LOL. They're more the Misty of Chincoteague types, so far. I really hope they do get into her eventually.

[Mommiska]

I loved the Laura books as well growing up. I have no clue how many times I read them all, but they are all completely falling apart from over-use!

I also had a 'Laura' dress and bonnet (a couple of them, actually), and I used to play 'Little House on the Prairie' with a friend of mine all the time when I was young.

Was a big fan of the TV series as well...that was the one night of the week when we could stay up until 8 pm (rather than going to bed at 7 pm as usual).

I'll have to look for the picture book versions of the Laura stories...I'm sure my girls would love them...