A review by nssutton
The Wilder Life: My Adventures in the Lost World of Little House on the Prairie by Wendy McClure

4.0

I resisted reading this book at first, out of loyalty for two of my good friends. For years, they've talked about writing a cooking blog where they worked through The Little House Cookbook while traveling to Little House locations. I supported this plan, mostly because I couldn't wait to serve as tester. When I read initial reviews for this book, I was so angry on their behalf -- they had been talking about working on something like this forever, who was this Wendy McClure who got to it first.

Um, she's AWESOME that's who.

There's nothing like discovering another kindred spirit, whose childhood memories of a book are often stronger than those of her (it's always a her) everyday life. I felt the same way I did upon discovering Lizzie Skurnick -- that grateful feeling of knowing in hindsight that you weren't the only girl in the world like that. I'll be eternally grateful the internet didn't exist when I was a kid, so that I could take full pleasure in "meeting" writers like this as I grow older.

I had always considered myself a lesser Little House fan, although I read the books repeatedly as a child, because I know who others who are more into than I have ever been into anything. But reading through this book, I was surprised how many details came back to me and the urge to drop the book and pick up the series was omnipresent.

That would have been impossible to do, because I was as into McClure's story as I was that of the characters she was chasing. I loved voice of the book, the spirit of the trip and the connection her mother she discusses at the end, which was always hanging over the trip like that great Ozark sky.

And the timing of the book was great. One of my Little House devotee friends was about to embark on her own grand experience. As I read through the last half of the book, she was packing up to leave for Germany with her husband. I couldn't help but let the three stories overlap each other in my mind -- Laura, Wendy and Shruti -- all pioneers in their own right.