Laura Ingalls Wilder is famous for her beloved series of books describing her childhood travels with her parents from the northern woods of Wisconsin across the prairies and finally settling in DeSmet, South Dakota. Readers watched Laura grow up through the novels, beginning as a little girl living in the Big Woods, becoming an adventurous school girl as she and her family traveled across the prairie and finally growing into young womanhood in the final books of the original series.
For years the stories about Laura ended with Laura and her Almanzo and their daughter Rose, living on a farm near her parents in South Dakota but that was far from the end of Laura's adventures. After facing a number of set backs, including Almanzo suffering a stroke, the Wilder's left South Dakota for the more agreeable climate of the Ozarks where they settled on a small farm near Mansfield, Missouri. There they raised their daughter Rose and it was there that Laura wrote her now famous books.
Before she began chronicling her childhood, Mrs. Wilder wrote articles for a variety of magazines and newspapers. These short pieces have been gathered together in this book and arranged into various subjects ranging from world politics to farm life. The pieces, written between 1911 to 1925, are those of a mature, thoughtful woman who has a surprising amount of things to say that are quite relevant even a hundred years later.
This book is a delight for fans of the Little House series of either books or television shows. It is oddly comforting to know that 'things turned out alright' for Laura and her Almanzo. Beyond that though it is a pleasant surprise to read the short essays and realize just how intelligent and insightful 'Little Half Pint' was.
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