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A review by kimuchi
The Little House Collection: The Complete Little House Nine-Book Box Set by Laura Ingalls Wilder
1.0
The Little House series is obviously so well known it seems silly to write a review.
The thing is, my memories of reading these books as a child are pretty tangled up with memories of the tv series, and they are actually pretty different. I reread the series with my daughter when she was little and was mortified. We had to pause constantly to have serious conversations about the racism and colonialism imbedded deeply within.
Laura Ingalls Wilder was a gifted writer and storyteller and the myth of the proud, hardworking, pioneer is not just her narrative, it's pervasive. This is American; Susanna Moodie is a much lesser known Canadian writer of this ethos. Thanks to some Indigenous friends I found Louise Erdrich and her
Birchbark House series. The main characters are in the same era, similar ages, but the story of the genocidal colonialist beginnings of Canada and the US told from the perspective of a young Anishnabe girl and her family is compelling and refreshing.
If you must indoctrinate another generation with the bullshit humble pioneer narrative, at least read The Birchbark House series as a counterpoint.
The thing is, my memories of reading these books as a child are pretty tangled up with memories of the tv series, and they are actually pretty different. I reread the series with my daughter when she was little and was mortified. We had to pause constantly to have serious conversations about the racism and colonialism imbedded deeply within.
Laura Ingalls Wilder was a gifted writer and storyteller and the myth of the proud, hardworking, pioneer is not just her narrative, it's pervasive. This is American; Susanna Moodie is a much lesser known Canadian writer of this ethos. Thanks to some Indigenous friends I found Louise Erdrich and her
Birchbark House series. The main characters are in the same era, similar ages, but the story of the genocidal colonialist beginnings of Canada and the US told from the perspective of a young Anishnabe girl and her family is compelling and refreshing.
If you must indoctrinate another generation with the bullshit humble pioneer narrative, at least read The Birchbark House series as a counterpoint.