Caddie Woodlawn by Carol Ryrie Brink

I can't believe I never read this as a child. I would have loved it, since it's a very similar story and timeline as Little House on the Prairie, one of my very favorite series. I even dressed up as Laura for Halloween one year when I was about seven... so Caddie Woodlawn is right up my alley. It's a similar story about a pioneer family living in Wisconsin and their adventures and things that happen to them. So many of the individual stories are similar to what happens in Little House--encounters with the Native Americans, prairie fires, waiting for the mail from their families back east. But a lot of this is different as well. The Woodlawn's relationship with the native Americans is much more friendly and trusting than that of the Wilders; Caddie especially is friends with them and at one point risks her own life to warn them of danger from the white settlers. And Caddie has a much more adventurous life than Laura ever did, because she is sandwiched by two brothers who she constantly runs around with and explores with. I also felt like the American pride and the whole American storyline was much stronger in this book, especially with the climax and the comparison between England and America at the end, whereas Laura and her family were much less linked to America, since they were outside of the country.

I just loved the feel of the Woodlawn family and their relationship with each other, and their love for Caddie and allowing her to grow up how she needed to. And I loved Caddie's feistiness and her refusal to let anyone get her down.

I read a review on Goodreads about how this book (and others of this time period) propagate negative and untrue views of the Native Americans. I totally noticed a few places where they said things about the Indians that made me wince. But I think it's hard to read these books written in the 1930s and hold them to today's standard of political correctness. I guess it's just important to correct those mis-impressions by talking about what really happened with your kids.