Alison Arngrim (LHOP's Nellie Oleson) Book in the Works

Alison Argrim, who portrayed spoiled brat Nellie Oleson on Little House on the Prairie, tweeted that she found a publisher for her book. The planned title is Confessions of a Prairie Bitch, which is also the title of Alison's comedy act.

You can read more about Alison's comedy act at her website.

We congratulate Alison on her book deal and look forward to more news soon.

Mark Landon Dies at Age 60

Mark Landon, adopted son of the late Michael Landon, was found dead in his Los Angeles home. According to Entertainment Weekly, which ran a short news brief about Mark's death, he appeared in a few movies and television shows.

Our thoughts and prayers are with Mark's family during this difficult time.

Dean Butler (LHOP's Almanzo Wilder) in New Production

Dean Butler, who portrayed Almanzo Wilder in Little House on the Prairie, has been very busy these days. He's involved in the Saving the Lives of Our Own project, which seeks to preserve the promise of the Motion Picture & Television Fund: 'taking care of our own.' To find out more about Saving the Lives or Our Own, please visit their website. They also have a social network on ning that can be found at http://mptfamily.ning.com/.

While Dean spends a great deal of time behind the camera these days, producing documentaries through Peak Moore Enterprises and his Legacy Documentaries brand, like Almanzo Wilder: Life Before Laura--which we reviewed here--Dean has also been very busy with his new production, a one-man show titled, "It's All About Me".

Dean's cousin, Hugo Schwyzer wrote an article at his blog about Dean's new show. Make sure you stop by and check it out.

May Featured Book of the Month

Little House on Rocky Ridge is the first book in Roger Lea MacBride's eight-book series of Rose Wilder's life: moving to Missouri, growing up on Rocky Ridge Farm, going to school, and leaving Missouri to spend a year with her Aunt Eliza Jane Wilder Thayer in Louisiana. The last book of the series, Bachelor Girl, chronicles Rose's journey to San Francisco, where she became one of the many women who earned her own way by taking a job outside the home.

The first chapter of Little House on Rocky Ridge starts off with Mama and Papa (Laura and Almanzo Wilder) deciding to leave De Smet, SD to travel to The Land of the Big Red Apple in the Ozark Mountains of Missouri.

The journey was a tough one, even though their friends the Cooleys came with them. And when Manly and Bess (Almanzo and Laura) arrived in Missouri and finally settled on a little farm to purchase, they discovered the hundred dollars Laura had hidden inside her writing desk--all the money they had--was missing!

But once the money was found, they paid a visit to the banker and bought the little farm with the rocky terrain that they christened Rocky Ridge Farm. Then they really got down to work and made it a real farm.

Originally published under the umbrella of Little House The Rocky Ridge Years in 1993, by the time Book 7 - On the Banks of the Bayou and Book 8 - Bachelor Girl came out in 1998 and 1999 respectively, the series was titled The Rose Years.

Roger Lea MacBride, Rose Wilder Lane's only heir, went to painstaking lengths to ensure that this series was as close to the original Little House books as possible. Those efforts are more than evident to readers; and it is my opinion that of all the other books about Laura's relatives, The Rose Years comes the closest in style and tone to the work of Laura Ingalls Wilder.

This series had two illustrators - David Gilleece and Dan Andreasen. While both men had their unqiue style, they also managed to illustrate the books in a way that left the reader feeling like she was in familiar territory with the Little House books that were illustrated by Garth Williams.

Little House readers will love finding out more about Rose Wilder and Rocky Ridge Farm in Little House on Rocky Ridge.