Laura Ingalls Wilder

After reading through the entire LITTLE HOUSE series (again), I became interesting in learning more about Laura Ingalls Wilder. I began with this book, and read some additional books as well. I found that LAURA INGALLS WILDER: A BIOGRAPHY was very informative, but that it was written in a very positive light. It glossed over some traumatic moments in Laura's life, and made her look like a perfect person instead of a normal person with some faults.
This book is designed to fit in with the current LITTLE HOUSE paperback design, which is handy. It is an easy read (written for the 9-12 set), but will interest those who want to know more about "the real Laura." I would recommend it over the other biographies I have read about Laura Ingalls Wilder because it is written to be interesting, not to be historically detailed. However, Laura's life was painted a lot rosier than it was in real life.

If you've read the "Little House" books, you'll find that some things in the stories weren't quite the same in real life - for example, the Ingalls family's time spent in Burr Oak, Iowa, isn't mentioned in any of Laura's stories, nor the fact that they actually lived in the Big Woods twice in Laura's lifetime - the events of "Little House on the Prairie" actually took place when Laura was too young to remember, so of course she relied on her parents'memories of Indian Territory. Also of note are a couple of name changes - the "Oleson" family was actually the Owens family, and the quarrelsome people she stayed with on her first teaching job were named Bouchie, not Brewster. Many more surprises await you when you read the story, but I don't want to give everything away!