"...because now is now. It can never be a long time ago." The Little House in the Prairie series are widely read books both among boys and girls, and have been since they were first written over half a century ago. They are a perfect way to introduce youngsters to life both in its simplicities and difficulties during the mid to late 1800s.

I read them multiple times growing up both for their tender portrayal of family life and for their exciting detail on travelling in a covered wagon, cleaning a rifle, escaping from an enraged panther and riding in a sleigh bundled in layers.

Every child must experience the feeling that "now" will be forever, and Laura Ingalls Wilder creates within us the longing that we all live with her in the Big Woods of Wisconsion or at least in the dugout on the prairie. ( )