As I was reading through all the posts that compared the Little House books to the Little House on the Prairie television show, I realized On the Banks of Plum Creek was skipped. Yikes! How did that happen? I think I'm too much of an Almanzo/Dean Butler fan and wanted to get to the romance. LOL! Though that book was mentioned, we didn't journey through On the Banks of Plum Creek like we did with most of the other books. Let's do that now.
After leaving Kansas at the end of the Little House on the Prairie book, the Ingalls family travels across Missouri and Iowa, and "a long way into Missouri," before Pa stops the wagon by a grassy bank where he says there is a creek (pgs 1 - 2). Charles is looking for Mr. Hanson, who wants to sell the place and move west. After some trading, Pa and Ma set up their family in the little dugout house on the banks of Plum Creek (pgs 2 - 17).
The opening scene of the Little House on the Prairie show reimagines Charles meeting Mr. Hanson, a founder of Walnut Grove. TV Mr. Hanson owns the mill in town. TV Charles works for Hanson at the mill to pay for lumber to build his family a house on the banks of the creek, and also trades their horses for a head of oxen, who are strong enough to plow the fields ("Harvest of Friends").
"Harvest of Friends" also sets up the town of Walnut Grove for viewers, who meet mercantile owners Nels and Harriet Oleson, Doctor Baker, Reverend Alden, and, although not mentioned, we see Mrs. Foster in the congregation at church.
In the same episode, Pa would agree to re-roof the Feed and Seed for Liam O'Neill and stack the newest sacks of grain coming in from Mankato in exchange for a plow and seed. Just like the book Charles worked for Mr. Nelson in exchange for a cow. (pg 40)
Charles is working so hard that he is too tired to play the fiddle at night (pg 52), just like TV Charles is too tired from working at the mill, at the Feed and Seed, and building the house in the show.
Book Laura and Mary could see cattle from the long gray rock beyond the stable, but they never went to play there in the morning or when the sun was going down because the herd boy, Johnny Johnson, was busy bringing the cattle out to graze or bringing them home. (pgs 38-39)
TV viewers will remember Johnny Johnson as a new boy who arrives at school ("The Love of Johnny Johnson"). Laura develops a crush on Johnny, but he only has eyes for Mary, something that will happen to Laura more than once in the television series.
When the book Charles and Caroline decide to head into town with Carrie (pg 67), they leave Laura and Mary at home with their dog Jack. Two pages later, Laura disobeys Mary, and the girls find the cattle eating the haystacks that Pa had told them must be left alone to feed the oxen and the cow through the winter because Johnny Johnson had fallen asleep. (pg 72)
It will be in the Season 4 episode "The Wolves" when Mary and Laura are left at home with Carrie while Charles and Caroline head to Twin Falls for two days. Laura spends a fair amount of time arguing with Mary, who is telling her what to do. The sideplot is that Andrew Garvey has been nursing a mother wolf back to health and keeping her pups in their barn until neighbors complain, so he brings them to the Ingalls' place. Starving, stray dogs descend upon the Ingalls farm while Ma and Pa are away, trying to get into the barn where Andrew, Laura, Mary, Carrie, and the wolves are locked in. Both provide an element of suspense.
That first "Christmas at Plum Creek" is portrayed differently on the show than in the book as well. The TV show is all about secrets and using ingenuity to supplement their limited resources to spread joy to each other. In the book, however, it's about the girls learning the importance of thinking of the greater good when they agree that they will all ask for horses for Christmas because that is what they need. (pg 86)
In what might have been taken from the book, Carrie receives a button necklace for "Christmas at Plum Creek." Laura and Mary worked with Ma to make one for her in On the Banks of Plum Creek. (pg 90) During this episode, we also see Laura talking to Charles while he builds a fish trap, which also happens in the book. (pgs 134-135)
Ma's surprise cookstove happens in the book (pg 114) and the show, but in "Christmas at Plum Creek," Charles is working on a set of wheels for a customer of Nels Oleson to pay for the stove, while Laura has secretly bartered with Mr. Oleson to sell him her pony, Bunny, in exchange for the stove. This is one of the saddest moments from Season 1. In the book, Pa brings the stove from town as a surprise for Ma.
Laura and Mary will start school in the show in the episode "Country Girls," which is where viewers first meet Nellie and Willie Oleson, Christy Kennedy, and her brother Sandy. This corresponds with the book chapter titled "School." This is where Sandy and the other children call the Ingalls girls "Long-legged Snipes," because their dresses are too short (pg 145). Christy tells her brother to knock it off and befriends the Ingalls girls. Nellie, looks upon them with disdain, calling them "Country girls," just like she did in the book. (pg 148)
This is also where viewers meet Miss Beadle for the first time. Book Laura (pg 150) and TV Laura don't know how to read, but kind Miss Beadle is encouraging. The slate incident appears in the book (pgs 151 - 156) and in the show, with the show even using some of the words from the book in their scenes. We even get to read about Mr. Oleson scolding Nellie and Willie for raiding the candy jars. (pg 155) The playground scene with Laura and Nellie arguing over what to play also appears in the book (157).
Later in Season 1 comes "Town Party, Country Party." Nellie invites the girls from school to her house for a party. Book Laura is amazed by what a fancy house and room Nellie has. Nellie tells her mother that they can play with Willie's things, to which he responds, "They can't ride on my velocipede!" (pg 162) Can you hear Jonathan Gilbert's voice saying that in the show?
Mrs. Oleson is kinder to Laura during the book party than TV Mrs. Oleson is. When Nellie brings out her doll, Laura reaches out to touch it. Nellie screams at her and pulls the doll away. (pgs 165 - 166) Laura wanders off to sit in a chair, where Mrs. Oleson finds her and gives her books to read. In the show, the lace on the doll's dress is ripped when Nellie snatches the doll away, and Mrs. Oleson scolds Laura, telling her she should be more careful. In both instances, this is where Laura's plot to avenge herself is hatched.
In the book, Caroline suggests the girls throw their own party as a way of repaying Nellie's hospitality. (pg 168) Their classmates come, and though Nellie also attends, she is as rude as ever. So, Laura leads the girls down to where she saw a crab in the creek, which frightens Nellie. Laura sends her over to the muddy water, and when Nellie comes out, she has leeches all over her legs. (pgs 172 - 175). Michael Landon's team reimagined this chapter from the book well in the episode, "Town Party, Country Party," which also had the sideplot of a girl named Olga with one leg shorter than the other.
One of the nice things Caroline liked about being near a town was also the chance to attend church. Reverend Alden is a traveling missionary who officiates services in Walnut Grove at the book's new church. Book Charles meets Reverend Alden in town, and is encouraged to bring his family to Sunday service. (pg 177). Laura and Mary are approached by Mrs. Tower that Sunday, who teaches them their Sunday school lesson. (pgs 183 - 185)
In the show, Caroline had to attend church alone with the girls the first time, because an exhausted Charles had fallen asleep ("Harvest of Friends"). Oddly, Reverend Alden was stern in this episode, talking about the people who weren't in the congregation, specifically stating that some wives were there without their husbands, making Caroline uncomfortable. Of course, that discomfort turned to anger once she saw Charles plowing the fields upon her return home.
Another Season 1 episode inspired by the books is "The Hundred Mile Walk." A hailstorm destroys crops in Walnut Grove, so Charles and some of their neighbors must head east for work. In On the Banks of Plum Creek, a cloud of grasshoppers hails down upon the community, destroying their crops. (pgs 194 - 205). This is when the Kennedy family leaves Walnut Grove. (pg 205). Because the grasshoppers had laid their eggs, Charles knew he wouldn't have a wheat crop the following year, so he decided to travel east for work. (pg 210)
In both the book and the show, Charles needs new boots. Book Charles has three dollars to buy boots in town, but when he runs into Reverend Alden, who says he is short three dollars to buy the bell for the church's bellfry, Charles gives him the three dollars instead. (pgs 190 - 191) Pa returns at night, surprising his girls in the morning, wearing his new pair of boots. (pgs 236 - 237) The family gets to go to town to buy the supplies they need. (pgs 240 - 244)
In "The Hundred Mile Walk," Charles, now without a crop, cannot afford new boots and has to walk in his cracked boots to find work. He works for the railroad, which everyone knows is very dangerous, but it will provide them with money for winter.
Then it is time to celebrate Christmas again in On the Banks of Plum Creek. The church has a Christmas tree filled with presents for everyone, thanks to Reverend Alden's congregation back east. (pgs 251 - 257)
Little House on the Prairie's first season is just as much about the town of Walnut Grove and its residents as it is the Ingalls family unit. Mr. Edwards, their friend from Kansas, is brought back to Walnut Grove when Charles finds him in Mankato ("Mr. Edwards' Homecoming"). The Ingalls family and Doctor Baker help Amy Hearn plan her funeral to encourage her children to come home for a visit ("If I Should Wake Before I Die"). The town residents fight over how to afford a bell for the church ("The Voice of Tinker Jones"). Doctor Baker has a chance at love ("Doctor's Lady"). And two episodes focus on the dangers of living on the prairie in the 1800s: "Plague" and "Survival." The first season also includes the birth and death of Charles Fredrick Ingalls, which Laura Ingalls Wilder never wrote about because she didn't want to upset her audience.
Season 1 of Little House on the Prairie feels like a lot of imagination with inspiration from the books sprinkled into the mix. I loved that Landon and his team remained true to some of the book events when bringing "Country Girls" and "Town Party, Country Party" to life.
I'm sure there is always more to say about the books versus the show. How have you enjoyed this analysis so far?
