This biographical overview provides insight into Wilder’s actual childhood, distinguishing between the stories Wilder portrays in her books and the life she lived. Back matter includes quotes, craft instructions, book lists, and recipes. Glossary.

This book is the biography about Laura Ingalls Wilder, the famous author who wrote several books about her life growing up during the pioneering and westward expansion days in America. The book has a very soft tone to it as if it were actively reading to audience of children. It covers all of her families moves across the midwest on the wagon, settling down then having to move all over again when times got rough. She shares the stresses her father had with finding work and wanting to have land and a home on their own. (Big emphasis on not being indebted to anyone EVER) The author explains that Laura growing up as a child "must be seen but not heard" this means she had to keep to herself. If she were sad about something, she couldn't burst into tears, she had to keep deep inside. It's a very eye opening read about Laura herself since the actual Little House on the Prairie books doesn't cover too much about how she feels. I'd recommend this to a 4th grade and up reading level. ( )

This new children's biography of perhaps Wisconsin’s most well known and loved author, Laura Ingalls Wilder, is a great addition for all her fans. Written in a plain, simple style it includes most of the facts we know about her and her family. The illustrations by Yona Zeldis McDonough are simple, warm and homey, reminiscent of the illustrations by Garth Williams in the well-known editions of the “Little House” books. Included in this edition are philosophical quotes by Laura, rules and descriptions for unfamiliar games Laura played as a child, instructions for making corn husk dolls, and recipes for gingerbread, johnnycakes and homemade butter. Written for younger tweens, this book will be eagerly read by all ages who can never read enough about this beloved author.

Sharyn H. / Marathon County Public Library
Find this book in our library catalog.

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This book describes so much detail of Laura's real life as a young pioneer. It helps paint a picture of the adventures and journeys that Laura and her family experienced in a historical context. It explains her families values and all the things in her life that her who she is.

Little houses, big fields

Little Author in the Big Woods: A Biography of Laura Ingalls Wilder by Yona Zeldis McDonough (Henry Holt & Co., $16.99).

Strike! The Farm Workers’ Fight for Their Rights by Larry Dane Brimmer (Calkins Creek Books, $16.95).

These two books, both for readers in the middle grades, address very different views of America’s agrarian roots, and both do so quite admirably.

Yona Zeldis McDonough’s biography of the author of the still incredibly popular Little House books will find a legion of young readers who can’t wait to learn something new about their favorite. While a large portion of the biography covers the same ground as the books—Wilder really planned to write an adult memoir, so her children’s fiction is full of actual places and events—but it also has some value added.

This comes in a sort-of rehabilitation of Ma Ingalls’ reputation, as the biographer casts her as a well-educated, strong role model rather than the stern woman always trying to rein in young Laura that we might remember from the books. In addition, the sections about Laura’s relationship with her own daughter, Rose Wilder Lane, adds a sort of matrilineal heritage, from one smart, tough woman to the next over three generations.

McDonough wisely avoids any of the more controversial elements of Wilder’s biography and keeps the tone light and easy to follow. She’s aided by the illustrator, Jennifer Thermes, who evokes the original Garth Williams drawins from the books without slavishly imitating them.

This is an excellent choice for fans of Wilder’s novels who are under 11 or 12 years old.

The darker side of rural life, at least as experienced by California’s migrant farm workers, is brought to light for young readers in Larry Dane Brimmer’s Strike! The Farm Workers’ Fight for Their Rights.

Rich with photographs, this well-written history of the United Farm Workers movement includes biographical information on leaders Cesar Chávez and Dolores Huerta, as well as factual information about internal dissent and Chávez’s sometimes heavy-handed response to it.

Strike! is also written for a more sophisticated reader; the language and style will be more accessible to the junior high school or high school reader than children under 11 or 12.

Both are very well done, and reminders that good literature for children is not restricted to fiction and graphic novels.

Reviewed on Lit/Rant: www.litrant.tumblr.com ( )