A Little Prairie House

It's time to go old school.  Actually, what's older than old school?  One-room schoolhouse old?  Laura Ingalls Wilder makes her first entry onto my blog.  Let's see how her tales of prairie life hold up in the Internet Age.

THREE PROS

*The "My First Little House Books" series (by Trophy Picture Books) makes an American classic more digestible for younger children with shorter attention spans

*I think it's important for modern-day boys and girls to see what it was like to live in a time where families had to struggle every minute to meet their most basic human needs

*Renee Graef's illustrations are superb

THREE CONS 

*The short story format has its benefits, but I don't understand why they would choose to not have an introductory page that sets the stage established in previous editions
*I'm no expert on 19th Century settlement, but why does Pa choose to build his house so far away from the water source when the land all around it is completely open for the taking

*Mr. Edwards describes himself as a wildcat -- I'm over 30 and have no idea what to make of this reference, so what could your kid possibly think it means

ONE DAD'S OPINION

You know why I like this book?  There's very little like it in popular circulation today.  Since the arrival of the homo sapien, our storytelling has consisted of young ones listening to tales of things that have come before them.  In other words, history has played an integral role.  Yet, somehow in the last 100 years, we have ditched this format almost altogether (in favor of wacky animal protagonists dancing across half-realistic pages) when teaching the tiniest of youth.  Don't get me wrong, I love creativity!  But we should treasure books like Wilder's equally.  OK, off of my soapbox.  Despite what you just read from me, this book is not a Buy.  It's not exactly riveting material.  But, it does get a Borrow thanks to its uniqueness and timelessness.         

Buy / BORROW / Donate / Destroy