Books #24-30: Little House on the Prairie series by Laura Ingalls Wilder

After reading Laura Ingalls Wilder's autobiography, I couldn't wait to get into her books again to revisit all the scenes she writes about--which is funny, since the books and the autobiography have a lot of the same stories. I'd read the first two books a few months ago, but hadn't re-read the last six or seven for years, so it was really fun to get back into them. It was especially enjoyable after re-reading the autobiography to compare what I knew had really happened in her life (like, 90% of what's in the books) with the fictionalizing that she did.

As I read, I was so blown away by how resourceful and independent they were 150 years ago. Sure, I know that those were the themes that Wilder wanted to emphasize in her stories, and therefore she told them in a way that made those themes most obvious, but no matter how you look at it, it's really amazing how strong they were and how they survived. The hardships they went through just to make a living are just amazing--the grasshoppers eating their whole crop, illnesses that go through the whole family, babies dying, an entire winter without any supplies and being shut up in the snow for months. When reading these books as a kid, I never really noticed or thought about how ridiculously hard and stressful that would have been to live through, particularly as a parent. And it's unbelievable how they were able to make a meal from nothing but potatoes and wheat and a happy life from nothing. I read these feeling like I am such a whiner with no real trials in my life, compared to them--it was a good, uplifting series to help me stop being such a baby with my easy, easy life that we have here.