by Arwynn McKinty (aged 6)Two girls named Laura and Mary, their baby sister Carrie, their papa and their mama went from the Big Woods to Indian Country in the olden days. They travelled all the way from Wisconsin to Oklahoma in their wagon and their horses Pet and Patty and their dog Jack. Jack walks under the wagon and the horses pull it. When they got to the prairie pa built a house out of logs and trees. To get their food pa went hunting. At Christmas one of their neighbours brought them their presents because Santa Claus couldn't go across the river. Pa dug a well and their other neighbour Mr Scott fell down it! When they had their house finished and really beautiful with glass in the windows the government told them to move on so they went in their wagon to go somewhere else and build a new house! I really liked the book, but I felt sad when they had to move.
28 comments:
Arwynn - Excellent review! And thanks for adding a little class to your daddy's blog.
gb
Thank you very much.
Arwynn, this is terrific writing. I loved reading it.
Granny B
Thank You!
Arwynn, my little girl Heather is seven and I think she'd enjoy this book very much. I will have to tell her you recommended it when she gets up in the morning. (It's in the middle of the night here in England. We're way behind you!)
Arwynn-
Great review! My wife and I enjoyed reading your post.
-B
Mike, Adrian here. Its a pretty good book actually. Arywnn over to you:
Michael, if Heather likes a book about girls having adventures in the wild west they will like the book.
Thank you Brian and Mrs Brian. My favourite bit is when they built the chimney out of stones from the river and when Santa Claus came.
Arwynn, my niece Olivia is seven like Mike's daughter Heather, and I think I should pass your review on to her, since I don't know if she knows the Little House books yet. At this point, she's more into fairies.
My word vericator word is, 'famed'. I kid you not. It might be like a fortune cookie about your future as a reviewer!
Seanag
Arwynn's away to bed, but I can thoroughly recommend it. Pa is a man's man, building a house from nothing - nothing, hunting, digging a well, providing for the family. He's a smart, resourceful, tactful, diplomatic guy and Mrs Wilder aint no slouch either. This book has the reputation of being a novel for girls. It isnt at all. Its like Robinson Crusoe only more believeable. I read along with Arwynn and loved it.
I wish I could tell people - wipe the TV series from your mind and read the book.
Seanag
Actually it would be Mrs Ingalls wouldnt it?
Apparently there is some controversy as to who actually wrote LHOTP. I like a juicy scandal. Wikipedia has the details.
Laura Ingalls Wilder visited David's elementary school class in the early 1940s north of Chicago and told many stories to the kids - some in the books. Reminder that her parents were probably really in the 'west' which Illinois was even in the late 19th century.
Susan
So the daughter edited Mrs.Ingalls work?
mmm...I wonder if that's the case also in the McKinty family
Pa dug a well and their other neighbour Mr Scott fell down it!
Did he do it on purpose? ;)
When they had their house finished and really beautiful with glass in the windows the government told them to move on
Governments do this from time to time,yes.
Wonderful review Arwynn.I wish I had your talent-When I had to do book summaries I went on rambling for pages and pages...
Ciao,
Marco
Susan
Good to know.
A...
Marco
I dont know if we'll ever know who wrote what. If indeed it was Mrs Ingalls its certainly a case for late blooming as she didnt write a word until her sixties.
"Pa dug a well and their other neighbour Mr Scott fell down it!"
Did he do it on purpose? ;)
You know, I think Arwynn's only real mistake here is have posted her review on her dad's crime related blog, where people are just a tad too suspicious. If it had been Michael Forsythe who had dug that well for instance, there would be no question about intent.
It's fascinating that this so vanished era still had a living representative to tell the stories even so late as the forties.
The controversy is interesting, but maybe a little beside the point. I've heard Thomas Wolfe, among others enjoyed (or endured) a bit of editorial license too. Is it substantially different because it was 'only a daughter' who took the liberty? Families are complicated things, as is editing.
I am glad you liked the books, Adrian, apparently at least as much as Arwynn did. It's an example of what I was trying to say over on my blog about your book, which is that sometimes a book is promoted only to one audience when in fact it may have several--because the writing holds up, for one thing.
So are you guys going to read the rest of them?
I do hope reading this one book doesn't make you think you can actually run a Tasmanian dairy farm...though Arwynn might.
I
Welcome to the blogosphere, Arwynn. I wish I were Jack. I think it would be fun to walk under the wagon.
==============
Detectives Beyond Borders
“Because Murder Is More Fun Away From Home”
http://detectivesbeyondborders.blogspot.com/
Seanag
I actually think Mr Scott didnt fall down the well. He went down to help pa dig and he had a sort of fainting fit down there because of the heat and humidity. A rare example of weakness in a book of VERY tough people.
Peter
There's a pretty disturbing scene where Jack falls overboard as the wagon's crossing the river but SPOILER ALERT it all works out ok.
Oh, Little House On The Prairie .... the whole series was the first love of my life. Look out Arwynn, you start with them and a whole pile of years later your own novels are getting published just like Laura's (or whoever it was wrote them).
Ask your dad if he'd be interested in a book swop, both of mine for an arc of Fifty Grand??
cheers,
Katherine.
www.katherinehowell.com
Katherine
Give me your email and I'll fire one off in January. Deal?
Yeah I enjoyd LH too.
Thanks Ado!!
katherine@katherinehowell.com
bewdy mate
(out of australianisms now ...)
Have a good festivus,
cheers,
k.
Katherine
Festivus is well under way, in fact I've been doing the "airing of grievances" all morning.
Send you a book in a week or two. (Unless Oz customs grabs em)
Wow, if 'airing of grievances' is key to the celebration , me and my friends at the bookstore seem to have gotten an early start on it. Or maybe it's just the dress rehearsal.
I don't know who in my personal scenario is the 'head of the table that needs to be wrestled to the ground', but let me tell you--I'm just in the mood.
If airing of grievances is a sign of celebration, I am postively drunk with merriment.
V-word: fraids
==============
Detectives Beyond Borders
"Because Murder Is More Fun Away From Home"
http://www.detectivesbeyondborders.blogspot.com/
Arwynn- it's Miss Leisa from Colorado. I really enjoyed reading your review, I absolutely LOVED reading it. Hope you are doing well. :o)
thank you miss leisa i am very well and enjoying australia!!!
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