Little House Thread

[HerNameIsBuffy]

I am tearing the storage apart trying to find my copy of Christmas on Plum Creek.  Ma crying as Laura goes to get Bunny for Nellie and Pa stops her from going after Laura.  "Caroline, it was her right."  "Oh, but she loves Bunny so!" "Caroline, I think she loves you more."  

Ive seen it hundreds of times and have never gotten through that scene without crying.

[Inky]

You've got me wondering, what the hell did they do with Bunny? Eat it??

[violynn]

Little House, oh how I love thee!  The books, the tv show, the big special Christmas episode, every single LHOTP moment.  I named one of my kids Laura.  

And now I'm going to find my copy of Plum Creek!

 

[SpoonfulOSugar]

I was at the Mansfield museum and houses this spring.  (I like seeing them.)  If you haven't gone, it's worth seeing.

The big debate in the LH world appears to be whether Laura's writing was really the dominant voice in the books or whether Rose actually should be credited as co-author/author.

Remember how Laura was Half Pint?

All the items in her kitchen were built by Almanzo - custom to her height of 4' 10".  I feel like a galumping giant in that house.

[HerNameIsBuffy]

1 minute ago, SpoonfulOSugar said:

I was at the Mansfield museum and houses this spring.  (I like seeing them.)  If you haven't gone, it's worth seeing.

The big debate in the LH world appears to be whether Laura's writing was really the dominant voice in the books or whether Rose actually should be credited as co-author/author.

Remember how Laura was Half Pint?

All the items in her kitchen were built by Almanzo - custom to her height of 4' 10".  I feel like a galumping giant in that house.

I'm jealous - it's been in the works last couple of years for us to do a weekend in Missouri as I have some genealogical sites from my family I'd like to see and stop by the museum.  I really need to make time to do that.

I find that debate fascinating and i could be wrong but from what I've read of Roses writing and Laura's (from her published articles as a farm wife) it reads like Laura's voice.  I don't doubt Rose was invaluable in the editing and story structure and maybe the creative timeline and combining relatives for flow...but I don't get a gentle vibe off of her while flowed through the books.

have you read Pioneer Girl?  I have some time off around the holidays and diving into that book is #1 on my agenda.

17 minutes ago, Inky said:

You've got me wondering, what the hell did they do with Bunny? Eat it??

Sold it to Nellie, because Nellie bugs Nels so Laura drove a hard bargain and traded it for the wood stove which was a whopping 7.95 iirc.  That's why Nels couldn't sell it to Pa when he wanted to buy it with the wagon wheel money.

I loved Nels and my heart broke for him that he was stuck with such a shrew.  The episode where he thought about cheating was one of the few times that's happened on tv when I was a kid that I wasn't all judgy about it.  That marriage would have been so very lonely for him.

 

[Inky]

Okay, as long as they didn't EAT bunny...

[SpoonfulOSugar]

1 minute ago, HerNameIsBuffy said:

I'm jealous - it's been in the works last couple of years for us to do a weekend in Missouri as I have some genealogical sites from my family I'd like to see and stop by the museum.  I really need to make time to do that.

I find that debate fascinating and i could be wrong but from what I've read of Roses writing and Laura's (from her published articles as a farm wife) it reads like Laura's voice.  I don't doubt Rose was invaluable in the editing and story structure and maybe the creative timeline and combining relatives for flow...but I don't get a gentle vibe off of her while flowed through the books.

have you read Pioneer Girl?  I have some time off around the holidays and diving into that book is #1 on my agenda.

They are making some significant changes to the Mansfield site - my MIL was there fairly recently and mentioned that the new museum was taking shape.  It's really interesting because the properties aren't managed by park service or other intense corporate times - very much a calmer vibe.  (Of course, my visits have been off-season - we were there just after it opened in the spring.)  Pa's fiddle is there and it's still played.  I don't remember when the Wilder Days or Little House Days are exactly, but Mansfield does have a fall event with lots of contests.

I read a whole bunch of non-fiction after I went this spring - one about a woman who visited many of the sites.  Some of the essays about who authored what are online.  I'll probably re-read them.

I've looked at Pioneer Girl, but really didn't want to splash out for the book, yet.  

There's an episode of the LHOTP where outlaws (maybe the James Brothers) terrorize the town.  That got me really interested in the Western campaigns of the Civil War and the irregulars, Kansas, etc.  There's a national battlefield:  Wilson's Creek, south of Springfield.  Also an interesting place to visit.

[HerNameIsBuffy]

Just now, Inky said:

Okay, as long as they didn't EAT bunny...

I would NOT consider this my most beloved of Christmas shows if Bunny was Christmas dinner!

spreaking of gross food on the prairie, remember the early Christmas where Mr Edwards braves the storm to get there and gives Ma sweet potatoes?  I know you can wash the skins and all but even as a kid I was sleeved out by the thought of eating something he toted in his dirty clothes.  

And "we each got our own cups now!" is something I say everytime I set the table for a holiday!  Although ours aren't tin and truth be told it's not like we've ever had to share so my kids didn't get too excited about it.

and all I could think of when Laura bit into that peppermint stick was to be careful - there is no dentist on the prairie.

4 minutes ago, SpoonfulOSugar said:

They are making some significant changes to the Mansfield site - my MIL was there fairly recently and mentioned that the new museum was taking shape.  It's really interesting because the properties aren't managed by park service or other intense corporate times - very much a calmer vibe.  (Of course, my visits have been off-season - we were there just after it opened in the spring.)  Pa's fiddle is there and it's still played.  I don't remember when the Wilder Days or Little House Days are exactly, but Mansfield does have a fall event with lots of contests.

I read a whole bunch of non-fiction after I went this spring - one about a woman who visited many of the sites.  Some of the essays about who authored what are online.  I'll probably re-read them.

I've looked at Pioneer Girl, but really didn't want to splash out for the book, yet.  

There's an episode of the LHOTP where outlaws (maybe the James Brothers) terrorize the town.  That got me really interested in the Western campaigns of the Civil War and the irregulars, Kansas, etc.  There's a national battlefield:  Wilson's Creek, south of Springfield.  Also an interesting place to visit.

My 3rd great grandfather was a solider in the battle of Wilson's Creek that was part of what we wanted to see.  He was wounded there and died shortly after in a POW camp.

[SpoonfulOSugar]

Here's one of the articles I read about the authorship:

http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2009/08/10/wilder-women

It made me think.  It also made me want to re-read my collection.  If I recall correctly, they aren't available electronically.

WHAT?!

[EmmieJ]

When my son was little, there were two Christmas stories that I read to him every year.  One was The Mole Family's Christmas and the other was the Christmas story where Mr. Edwards braves the elements to bring the Ingalls Chrismas goodies.  Sadly, even as a little guy, my son was not impressed with the girls receiving one whole penny each! and a peppermint stick in their stockings.  

I think if I have any regret in my life, it might be that I didn't have a daughter who might have come to love LHOP as much as I did.  (I really loved the books, but I didn't love the TV series as much.  And now I cannot watch it at all - too preachy.  But I still love the books.)

[HerNameIsBuffy]

19 minutes ago, SpoonfulOSugar said:

Here's one of the articles I read about the authorship:

http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2009/08/10/wilder-women

It made me think.  It also made me want to re-read my collection.  If I recall correctly, they aren't available electronically.

WHAT?!

That was a wonderful article - thanks for sharing that.

if Roae was an FJer today I don't think she'd be one of my favorite posters!  Now I'm dying to know what was wrong with her teeth that she blames on early childhood malnutrition.

ive always found their relationship fascinating because it wasn't the close mother daughter bond you'd imagine Laura would have based on how lovingly she wrote about her own Ma.  But I have no doubt that was far more complicated than fiction aimed at children could hope to capture.

i think about the real Caroline Ingalls sometimes as her life seems so sad to me.  She didn't want to move constantly, she followed her husband.  Would she have made different choices if she were born into a time where women had more agency over their lives?

excerpts from Pioneer Girl indicate Pa wasn't restless purely driven by adventure and spirit...sneaking away in the night because the landlord would come in the morning to move them out due to lack of rent rings pretty true.  I think the real Charles Ingalls probably had far more in common with John Schrader (albeit more willing to work) than Michael Landon's portrayal. 

17 minutes ago, EmmieJ said:

When my son was little, there were two Christmas stories that I read to him every year.  One was The Mole Family's Christmas and the other was the Christmas story where Mr. Edwards braves the elements to bring the Ingalls Chrismas goodies.  Sadly, even as a little guy, my son was not impressed with the girls receiving one whole penny each! and a peppermint stick in their stockings.  

I think if I have any regret in my life, it might be that I didn't have a daughter who might have come to love LHOP as much as I did.  (I really loved the books, but I didn't love the TV series as much.  And now I cannot watch it at all - too preachy.  But I still love the books.)

If it makes you feel better I couldn't get my daughter to share the love.  I made my mom sew me a bonnet and nightcap, but she had no interest.  

She did love the borrowers so we had that - but I'm still alone in my LHOP love in my house.

[Gimme a Free RV]

This should be filed under "Unpopular Opinions" but I have to say, I never liked the TV series at all.  I loved the books so much and didn't want the extra fluff thrown in that made the series. When I read the Little House books in upper elementary school, I desperately wanted to be Laura Ingalls.

[HerNameIsBuffy]

29 minutes ago, Gimme a Free RV said:

This should be filed under "Unpopular Opinions" but I have to say, I never liked the TV series at all.  I loved the books so much and didn't want the extra fluff thrown in that made the series. When I read the Little House books in upper elementary school, I desperately wanted to be Laura Ingalls.

That's a pretty popular opinion actually.  I do love them both, but see them as completely seperate entities.  If I tied the series to the books I would hate it.

[clueliss]

I love both but even as a tween/teen had to divorce the series from the books because I was always 'that didn't happen in the books.'  

Alison Arngram's autobio was awesome by the way.  Love her

[Jeebusismycopilot]

I always loved Little House. I used to be in love with Andy Garvey If I'm not mistaken, he was played by the actor who went on to portray Bud Roberts on JAG. 

There are still some episodes I cannot watch but I have a feeling that I might have to binge watch the series again during the Christmas holidays. 

I read Little House in the Big Woods with my class almost every year. The kids love those stories and they are so well written,it is so easy for the children to be transported to the 1870's. Tie it in with a class trip to Black Creek Pioneer Village and they are instantly falling in love with reading and with history. The stories come alive and they want to learn more. Plus I get to indulge in these wonderful stories simply for my own personal joy

[church_of_dog]

Has anyone read the book Follow The River by James Alexander Thom?  It's a fictionalized version of a true story of a woman who is captured by the Shawnee in Virginia in 1755 and has an incredible story of survival as she tries to make her way back home.

The woman's name is Mary Ingles and I heard somewhere, but can no longer find any indication, that she is an ancestor of Charles Ingalls and his family.

Even if the two families are not related, this is a captivating and impressive story if you enjoy survival stories.  It made some lasting impressions on me.

 

[SpoonfulOSugar]

This is from a review of Pioneer Girl:

 

Quote

 

The most intriguing part of the manuscript concerns the years the Ingalls family spent in Iowa, omitted from the "Little House" books because the events were too grim, beginning with the death of Laura's baby brother.

The family has to work in a hotel near a saloon in Burr Oak, a "dead town…without even a railroad." One night, when Laura is 13 and staying with another family to take care of their baby and ill wife, she is awakened by the husband: "I could smell the whiskey on his breath…[']lie down and be still!' 'Go away quick,' I said, 'or I will scream for Nannie.' He went and the next day Ma said I could come home."

 

 

http://www.latimes.com/books/jacketcopy/la-ca-jc-laura-ingalls-wilder-20141130-story.html

Of course, for children's literature, much was necessarily omitted or sanitized, but it's interesting that the reality was much darker than the somewhat saccharine versions in the books and show.  (And I agree, I divorce the show from the books.  Two creatures, little connection.)

[violynn]

Half my girls loved all the books, half were'meh'....same. group who did and didn't like Anne of Green Gables and A Little Princess.

[SpoonfulOSugar]

3 minutes ago, violynnkelly said:

Half my girls loved all the books, half were'meh'....same. group who did and didn't like Anne of Green Gables and A Little Princess.

Hah.

You should see my copy of Little Princess.  It was read so many times that the spine is broken.  Half the pages have been bent (I never dog ear, but somehow they got bent, crumpled, shredded).  The front cover is off and got covered with sugar sticky at some point.

My Anne of Green Gables was gifted when I was older - it survived with a bit more grace.

[Closed Womb]

I love, love, love the LHOTP books.  Present tense; I still occasionally read them.  

I'll be reading all the Christmas chapters at some point between now and the 25th.

[foreign fundie]

Grandma got my daughter hooked on the series. She watched them many times over with tears in her eyes. So I bought her one of the books to encourage literacy skills. Well, she didn't get halfway through it. Too boring.

Still, I hope the series will inspire in my daughter the respect and obedience to her parents that Laura had for hers. Which may be why her grandma gave her the DVDs in the first place. 

[twin2]

1 hour ago, HerNameIsBuffy said:

That's a pretty popular opinion actually.  I do love them both, but see them as completely seperate entities.  If I tied the series to the books I would hate it.

Like you, I love them both, but in their own way.  That being said, even though I love the TV series, there are parts of it that are just so snarkworthy.  I brought it up in another thread, but the disconnect in the geography cracks me up.  I'm from MN and know, that that area is flat as flat can be, yet in the series they love to show those beautiful, beautiful mountains!

I think the most snarkworthy episode has to be the one where Carrie is being ignored, so she dreams of her imaginary friend who looks just like her.  I'm sorry, but the 2 girls who played Carrie were horrible actresses, and the combination of the inanity of the episode with 2x the bad acting, is just too much.

I also do wonder what life was really like for the family.  From what I can gather, Pa seemed to be 'not a job type person' just wanted to grift off the land then move on.  That had to have been hard on the family.

[Grannie2times]

I love the books but I never watched the TV show.  I'm trying to get my niece into the series but no luck so far.  

[clueliss]

'not a job type person' combined with wanderlust.  

[CyborgKin]

Yeah, I didn't watch very much of the show, I think because I didn't have much interest in it as what I saw of it felt completely different to the books.

I do however remember enjoying the fictional series of eight books 'The Days of Laura Ingalls Wilder' by Thomas L. Tedrow, mainly because the Youngun family was hilarious.  (Googling tells me that there's a series of books just about the Younguns, which I didn't know about.  Back when I was reading those books, it was before I had much to do with the Internet.)