A review by seregelda
Farmer Boy by Laura Ingalls Wilder

adventurous informative medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

CW: cultural appropriation, child abuse, sexism, racism, animal cruelty, bullying, misogyny, colonialism, animal killing and butchering, injuries

I tried to read this when I was little and read the first two Little House books, back then this book was labeled the third in the series. I didn't get very far into this book when I was little, I think I got bored when he was training his cattle.

At the end where his father compares his work as a farmer to the cart-maker in town he says some nonsense about being independent while the cart-maker is not, and that got under my skin. He was dependent on the Canadian helpers he constantly hires, he was dependent on the shopkeepers to buy his farm goods, he's dependent on his children to do the daily chores and help him harvest. I hate the American myth of the independent farmer, humans are interdependent and it's a good thing (excepting the child labor). 
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