Book Review: Nonfiction, Memoir, or Fiction?: Dissecting the Works of Laura Ingalls Wilder by Robynne Elizabeth Miller

 

In 2017, Robynnne Elizabeth Miller, author of From the Mouth of Ma: A Search for Caroline Quiner Ingalls, released a book based on a paper she wrote during her MFA program at Ashland University in Ashland, Ohio. That book, Nonfiction, Memoir, or Fiction?: Dissecting the Works of Laura Ingalls Wilder, explores how the late author crossed these genres in the writing of the Little House books, and why she might have done so. 

In this engaging and informative resource, Miller discussed the importance of genre, how Wilder wrote nonfiction, memoir, and fiction alongside each other in her famous children's series, and how Wilder defined her books as "true stories about her childhood," which her correspondence and modern technology would later allow us to see is not fully accurate. 

Miller's belief is that while Little House in the Big Woods reflected on the life of one family, as the series progressed, the larger story of "America's pioneer movement" took over, and Wilder's purpose changed as she went along. 

If you like all things Laura Ingalls Wilder, enjoy exploring academic studies, or simply want a short piece of work on how one writer views the writing of a famous author, Nonfiction, Memoir, or Fiction? is an excellent choice. 

• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Practical Pioneer Press (June 16, 2017)
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• Paperback ‏ : ‎ 64 pages
• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1947370049
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1947370043

I purchased a copy of this book for my Laura Ingalls Wilder collection. This review contains my honest opinions, which I have not been compensated for in any way.

Books Versus TV Show: Laura and Almanzo's Married Life - The First Four Years Versus Seasons 7 - 9 of Little House on the Prairie

Here we are at perhaps the most challenging stage of finding similarities between Laura Ingalls Wilder's books and the Little House on the Prairie television show.

The First Four Years opens with Laura asking her fiancé, Almanzo, to do something else other than farming because she never wanted to marry a farmer. She didn't want them to work hard while people made money off of them (pg 4). Almanzo explains that farmers are the only ones who are truly independent. He tells her that he will try it for three years, and if he doesn't find success, he will quit and do anything she wants him to do (pg 5). Book Almanzo is more forward-thinking and interested in a full partnership with his wife than TV Almanzo is in those early days. "He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not" and "Laura Ingalls Wilder" prove he wants to be in charge. 

As we already know, after some challenges, TV Laura and Almanzo get married at the blind school in Sleepy Eye, sharing an anniversary with Mary and Adam, before settling into the house Almanzo had previously shared with his sister, Eliza Jane ("Laura Ingalls Wilder"). 

On the morning of August 25, 1885, Laura Elizabeth Ingalls becomes Laura Ingalls Wilder in the book and in real life. She leaves her parents' home, is married by Reverend Brown, goes back to her parents' house for dinner, and then leaves her family behind as she and Almanzo drive to their new home across town in De Smet. (pgs 9-10). 

The first year is filled with Laura learning how to run her household, hosting threshers at harvest time, and Laura worrying over money because Manly mortgaged the house for $500 (pg 57). But there are fun times too, as the young couple continue going on buggy rides, taking their ponies out, and hosting their family on New Year's Day. Laura also discovers she is pregnant (pg 43). 

TV Laura has a different set of experiences.

• An old friend of Almanzo's comes to town, and Laura fears they are having an affair ("Divorce, Walnut Grove Style").
• A women's rights activist arrives in Walnut Grove, and the women of town move into Nellie's Restaurant until the men of Walnut Grove sign the petition. Though the newlyweds don't wish to be apart, Laura feels she should support her mother, and she moves into town ("Oleson Versus Oleson"). 
• Almanzo is eager to have children, but Laura wants to keep teaching. Then, when Almanzo's older brother, Royal, leaves his mischievous boys with the Wilders while he takes a vacation with his wife, Almanzo is certain the experience will deter Laura from wanting kids ("The Nephews"). 
• Laura resigns as Walnut Grove's school teacher when Mrs. Oleson interferes. Almanzo and she have a disagreement as Laura tries out new recipes to keep her mind off not feeling useful ("Goodbye, Miss Wilder"). As you will recall, in the books Laura only taught school to help her family. She never really liked it. 
• Laura gets pregnant in Season 7, and her pregnancy will last three-quarters of the way through Season 8, where a series of life-altering events plague the Wilders, and Laura learns about the $500 mortgage on the house ("Days of Sunshine, Days of Shadow"). 

TV viewers will see some hint of inspiration from The First Four Years in Season 7 and into Season 8 of Little House on the Prairie, though it's hard to say how many years pass in TV Laura and Almanzo's marriage from Season 7 through to the end of Season 9 and the three final movies. Enough time passes for Rose to be born, and for her to be a toddler in the movies. 

As we consider the creative license taken with these early episodes of their marriage, we need to remember the difference in ages between Melissa Gilbert (Laura) and Dean Butler (Almanzo) in real life and as their characters on the show. They are allowed to be intimate, but not much. In "Oleson Versus Oleson," when Laura struggles with wanting to support her mother but not wanting to leave her new husband, they have a touching conversation where Manly asks her if she needs to leave that night, and she decides to wait until the morning. Also in this episode, Laura is so eager to get back to Manly after moving into Nellie's that she tries to get her parents talking again. It backfires, but I really feel this is one of those few Season 7 episodes where you are reminded Almanzo and Laura are a young couple in love with each other. 

During the first twelve months of The First Four Years, the dry weather of last summer had been hard on the trees and stunted their growth (pg 47), similar to what happens in the episode "Stone Soup," but the spring brings rain, just like it did at the end of the "Stone Soup" episode. The wheat and oats grow nicely. A few days before harvesting the wheat, a hailstorm flattens it to the ground. Now, there will be no money to pay toward the mortgage or the loan for the new harvest machine (pgs 48 - 56). Book Laura and Almanzo get someone to work the tree claim, and the Wilders move to the smaller homestead property by the time they celebrate their first anniversary (pgs 59 -60). 

In the second year of The First Four Years, Almanzo and Laura endure new parent anxieties after Rose is born, and their childless friend, Mr. Boast, asks them to give up Rose so that his wife can have a child (76). Even after all these years, this passage is disturbing. It adds to the distress that Mr. Boast assumes Laura and Almanzo could have more children (pg 76) when we know what happens to them later. 

As the book Wilders enter the third year of their marriage, Manly continues to buy things on credit, and Laura fears they can't afford it. However, she considers that to be Manly's business (pg 85). Shortly after Almanzo's birthday, Laura gets sick, so Caroline takes Rose home with her (pg 87). 

Almanzo also takes sick (pg 88), just like TV Almanzo will in "Days of Sunshine, Days of Shadow." They both have diphtheria in The First Four Years, but Almanzo will be the only one ill in the show, and a pregnant Laura takes care of him at their house in Walnut Grove, though Doctor Baker advises otherwise. When the book Manly goes back to work too soon and works too hard after his bout with diphtheria, he suffers a stroke that impacts the strength in his legs (pg 89). 

In"Days of Sunshine, Days of Shadow," Almanzo, who is still recovering from diphtheria, attempts to run out and save his wheat from a hailstorm, leading to a stroke that paralyzes his entire left side and leaves him wheelchair-bound. While Manly is struggling to recover from his stroke, Laura gives birth to Rose. 

As the book Wilders approach their third anniversary, they are drowning in medical expenses, and their renter at the tree claim is leaving. So, they find a buyer for the homestead, and then they move back to the tree claim (pg 90). Laura must help Almanzo around the farm because the aftereffects of the stroke left his hands clumsy (pgs 90 - 91). 

Cousin Peter visits the Wilders. He has been working for a neighbor who wants to sell 100 purebred sheep. So, Peter and the Wilders pitch in to buy the sheep (pgs 93 - 95). Little do the Wilders know, that their wheat crop will once again be ruined by the weather within days of harvesting it (pg 96). 

Entering the fourth year of their marriage, Almanzo's hands improve, and he tells Laura he wants to buy a new team to clear the whole 160 acres. Laura quickly objects, saying their three years are up. Manly reasons that though the crops have been failures, they are all set for farming and don't have money to start anything else. Knowing he is right and continuing to worry over the mortgage and other payments they have to make, she agrees they might have good luck that year, which would make all the difference (pgs 100 - 101). 

In the last of The First Four Years, Laura again feels the familiar sickness of being pregnant (pgs 106 - 107). She struggles to keep up with Rose, who is toddling around, and to help Manly around the farm (pgs 115 - 116). A dust storm blows all the seed wheat and oats away (pgs 109 & 115), and a prairie fire threatens them (pg 113). 

With so much to do, Laura admits she hates the farm and all the debts that had to be paid whether she could work or not. Even if the weather didn't cooperate, they would still need to pay interest on their loans and taxes (pg 119).

And the weather did not cooperate. They had no rain. The wheat and oats, along with the trees, died. [If you recall in "Stone Soup," Laura was trying to keep the trees from dying during a drought in Walnut Grove while Manly was away, and she was very pregnant.]

Almanzo couldn't prove up on the land given to him as a result of the Homestead Act. So, he had to file a preemptive claim, where in six months they would pay the United States government $1.25 per acre, but they would no longer need to waste time on growing trees (pg 122). 

As if this isn't enough, there is more. A tornado (pg 124); Laura giving birth to their son, who dies soon after she starts feeling good enough to help out on the farm again (pg 127); and they lose their home in a fire (pgs 128 - 131). So, they move in with Caroline and Charles while Almanzo and Peter build a new shanty (pg 131). Is any of this inspiration feeling familiar to TV viewers yet? 

In all the chaos, their fourth anniversary passes by without anyone noticing. Manly takes stock of all they have, and Laura feels her spirit rising to the challenge of always being a farmer (pgs 132-134). 

With "Days of Sunshine, Days of Shadow," Landon and his team reimagined what the Wilders went through over the first four years of their marriage, and hit them with it all at once, doing what writers do best--saying "What if..." and pushing them to their limits. 

Once the Ingalls family left TV's Walnut Grove and relocated to Burr Oak, Iowa, the show writers appear to have used what material was available from the books and relied on their own imaginations to create the last season and final three movies. The only episode that could be related to Wilder history is, "A Child with No Name," which finds Laura and Almanzo welcoming their son, who dies one night without having been given a name. The rest of the episode focuses on Laura and the town turning on Doctor Baker because of the baby's death. Then the Wilders must depend on Doc Baker to save Rose when she comes down with smallpox. 

The only book we didn't touch upon in this series of posts is By the Shores of Silver Lake because this book covers the Ingalls family traveling from their little house on the banks of Plum Creek to Dakota Territory and the building a new town, which will become De Smet. Therefore, it didn't really apply to the show in a significant way. Mary becoming blind, which viewers experience in the two-part episode, "I'll Be Waving As You Drive Away," happened in between On the Banks of Plum Creek and By the Shores of Silver Lake. Readers find out on pages 1 and 2 of By the Shores of  Silver Lake that the family had previously been stricken with scarlet fever, which made Mary blind. 

Did it surprise you how much of the books inspired the writers of Little House on the Prairie? Do you feel differently about how the show brought the Ingalls family's story to life? Looking back, would you still have preferred the writers stuck more closely to the books? 

Which Areas of the World Visit Laura's Little Houses

 

Occasionally, I check to see where this blog's traffic is coming from. Most recent stats show that the most readers of Laura's Little Houses originate from Hong Kong. The next highest amount of readers is from  the United States, France, and Germany, with Austria not far behind. 

Thanks to everyone who spends time reading Laura's Little Houses!

Coming This Summer: Too Good to Be Altogether Lost by Pamela Smith Hill

Laura Ingalls Wilder, author of the well-known Little House series, wrote stories from her childhood because they were “too good to be altogether lost.” And those stories seemed far from being lost during the remainder of her lifetime and through most of the twentieth century. They were translated into dozens of languages; generations of children read them at school; and dedicated readers made pilgrimages to the settings of the Little House books. With the release of NBC’s Little House on the Prairie series in 1974, Wilder was well on her way to becoming an international literary superstar. Simultaneously, however, the novels themselves began to slip from view, replaced by an onslaught of assumptions and questions about Wilder’s values and politics and even about the books’ authenticity. From the 1980s, a slow but steady critical crescendo began to erode Wilder’s literary reputation.

In Too Good to Be Altogether Lost, Wilder expert Pamela Smith Hill dives back into the Little House books, closely examining Wilder’s text, her characters, and their stories. Hill reveals that these gritty, emotionally complex novels depict a realistic coming of age for a girl in the American West. This realism in Wilder’s novels, once perceived as a fatal flaw, can lead to essential discussions not only about the past but about the present—and the underlying racism young people encounter when reading today. Hill’s fresh approach to Wilder’s books, including surprising revelations about Wilder’s novel The First Four Years, shows how this author forever changed the literary landscape of children’s and young adult literature in ways that remain vital and relevant today.

Visit Goodreads to see where you can pre-order this book. 

Books Versus TV Show: Laura and Almanzo's Courtship - These Happy Golden Years versus Season 6 of Little House on the Prairie & the Episode "Laura Ingalls Wilder" (Season 7)

 

The courtship of Laura Elizabeth Ingalls and Almanzo James Wilder is part of the reason we are still talking about them, their families, Wilder's books, and the shows based upon them. 

As already discussed in a post from earlier this month, the courtship of Laura and Almanzo is portrayed very differently in the books than on television. Almanzo pursues Laura in These Happy Golden Years, but Laura is the one pursing Almanzo in Little House on the Prairie. This necessitated changes in how TV Laura and Almanzo acted toward one another. 

For TV Laura, it is love at first sight when Almanzo pulls into town in his rig looking for his sister, the new school teacher, Eliza Jane. Book Laura first noticed Almanzo's horses. When TV Laura is introduced to Almanzo in the episode, "Back to School," Laura accidentally calls him, "Manly," instead of Mannie. The next day, he, in turn, tells her that now he must give her a special nickname. Asking what her full name is, Manly christens her, "Beth." These will be the nicknames they call each other throughout the Little House on the Prairie show. 

For book lovers, however, these pet names will not appear until the final book in the series, The First Four Years, and Almanzo calls Laura "Bess" to avoid confusion with his older sister, who is also named Laura, not "Beth." I can only imagine that the years in which the show originally aired played into the change in her nickname. 

Eager for Almanzo to see her as a woman, in "Back to School," Laura studies for her teaching exam, which she fails miserably thanks to Nellie's interference. For three episodes in Season 6--"Annabelle," "The Werewolf of Walnut Grove," and "Silent Promise"--Laura yearns for Almanzo to see her as older than she is and hopes he will wait for her to grow up... much to the dismay of her pa. 

Almanzo's perspective begins to shift in the episode, "Wilder and Wilder," when his younger brother, Perley Day visits Walnut Grove unexpectedly. Perley Day reminds Almanzo that Laura--who Manly had just called a kid--is almost 16, and when Almanzo is later caring for Barnum at the Ingalls farm after his brother nearly cripples him, he tells Charles that Laura is one "grown up young lady." It will, however, be driving Laura to her first teaching job in "Sweet Sixteen," that finds Manly's friendship with Beth blossoming into love. 

With a new hairstyle and boots, and with a week spent apart, Laura suddenly looks older to Almanzo when he picks her up in Curry. Struggling with his newly discovered feelings for Beth, he punches a student who he thinks is making advances to Laura, which he later admits to Charles. 

When Charles arrives on Laura's birthday to pick her up, she is disappointed that Almanzo hasn't come, but she is encouraged when Charles tells her he believes Almanzo might be in love with her. That night, at the church social, Almanzo and Laura share their first dance and their first kiss. 

Two more, two-part episodes will focus on their courtship: "He Loves, He Loves Me Not" and "Laura Ingalls Wilder." The latter is the opening for Season 7. Like viewers will see in the early days of their TV marriage, Manly and Beth have temporarily life-altering disagreements during their courtship as well, which wasn't as much of an issue for book Almanzo and Laura. 

At the end of seventh book of the series, Little Town on the Prairie, Laura earns her teaching certificate. By the opening of the next book, These Happy Golden Years, she has her first teaching job at the Brewster settlement. In Chapter 4, Almanzo is the one bringing her back and forth to Brewster, just like TV Almanzo brought Laura back and forth from Curry. 

Laura is quick to correct her friends, who call Almanzo her beau (pg 39).  Later in the book (pg 62), she tells Almanzo that she wouldn't be riding with him anymore once she is back in town permanently. So, she is surprised when he arrives to bring her home again (pgs 69-70). They have a small disagreement (pgs 76-77), and he asks her if she thinks he is the kind of guy who would leave her in Brewster, while she is missing home, just because there is nothing in it for him. And this is where the reader gets insight into Laura's thoughts, because she admits to herself, she never really thought about him because he is older and a homesteader (keeping in mind that Almanzo lied about his age when he went west because a man had to be 21 or head of the family to make a claim). 

Though TV Laura saw herself getting married to Almanzo, in These Happy Golden Years, when Mary suggests she write a book, Laura says she will be an old maid schoolteacher like Miss Wilder. (pg 136).  Which is so funny, because men keep showing up at her family's home to take her for rides (pg 170). 

Unlike Laura and Almanzo's TV courtship, readers see the seasons and regular activities for courting couples in the book. Winter means they go out on sleigh rides, which become buggy rides in the spring. They have singing school, which Almanzo invites Laura to attend with him (pg 199). 

We see a bit of Almanzo's temper when Laura's Uncle Tom comes to visit. Manly doesn't realize it is her uncle, so he gets teased by Laura's friends because he is jealous (pg 112). Seems book Almanzo and TV Almanzo have that in common. 

Just like TV Laura, book Laura is not afraid to assert herself when needed. A few times, Almanzo shows up to take Laura for a buggy ride with Nellie Oleson. One day, she tells him not come if Nellie will be with him (pg 177). So, next time, he shows up alone. Once they get engaged (pg 214), see plainly tells Almanzo that she will not say the word "obey" in their vows because she can't make a promise she won't keep (pg 268). 

Book readers also get to see Laura's mischievous side. While riding with Almanzo in his buggy, he puts his arm around her shoulders. Laura shakes the buggy whip, causing the colts to jump, so Almanzo must use both arms to bring the colts under control (pg 166). Reminds one of the cinnamon chicken incident in "Back to School" or how Laura "accidentally" forgot to sew Christie Norton's skirt to the bodice of her dress in "Annabelle." 

I previously spoke about Ma's reaction to Almanzo in Little Town on the Prairie, because we see Caroline as supportive of Laura's desire to make Almanzo see her as a woman in the show. In These Happy Golden Years, she isn't thrilled about Laura riding with Almanzo while he is breaking in a new team. She actually tells Laura that she thinks he is trying to break her neck, and that she hopes he breaks his own first (pg 186). Ouch! After Laura receives an engagement ring from Almanzo, Ma asks her if she is sure she doesn't care more for his horses. Having not read this book for decades, this suspicious, stern Caroline is foreign to me, especially in light of how loving Grassle's Ma is. 

The winter before Almanzo and Laura get married, he and his brother Royal decide to visit their parents in Spring Valley. They plan to be gone until spring, but on Christmas Eve, Almanzo returns to surprise Laura (pg 229). This is one of those scenes I wish Little House on the Prairie had reimagined, despite it not being practical. Side note: In "Wilder and Wilder," Perley Day said he visited the folks in New York, but they had moved to Spring Valley in the 1870s. 

After Almanzo's return, book Laura and her family get busy preparing for the wedding day. Mary comes home from college, and Pa gets Ma a new sewing  machine so she can make Laura's new things (pgs 241, 246 & 265). This is another everyday life detail I wanted to catch a glimpse of in the show. Instead, we had Almanzo losing his crop on the land he bought when the man who sold it to him cut off his water supply ("Laura Ingalls Wilder"), and a major disagreement between Laura and Almanzo as she takes a job in Radner to help earn money so she and Almanzo can get back on their feet. This will cause the first rift between Eliza Jane and Almanzo since we have met them. She tells him he is wrong and he is being stubborn. 

Laura and Almanzo call off their engagement. She plans to take the job in Radner and stay there so she can forget about Manly, and it looks like he plans to go on living with his sister for all eternity. That is, until Eliza Jane tells him she is moving to St. Louis to marry Harve Miller, which means Laura and Almanzo can have the house in Walnut Grove, and Laura can teach in town. Thrilled, Almanzo grabs Laura's engagement ring, races after the stage, and proposes to Laura. 

Then, in an odd bit of writing, Laura and Almanzo agree to drive to Sleepy Eye to tell Ma and Pa, who are at the blind school celebrating Mary and Adam's anniversary, picking up Eliza Jane before they drive the 40 miles to Sleepy Eye. Keeping in mind that a wagon could travel about 5 - 8 miles per hour, and that Laura was over an hour away from Walnut Grove when Almanzo stopped the stage, I don't think they would make it. But in the end, Laura Elizabeth Ingalls becomes Laura Ingalls Wilder. 

The television courtship seems to take place over a year and a half. Charles told Almanzo in "He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not," that they had to wait one year to get married, which would make Laura 17. Now, we won't know how much time passed between "Sweet Sixteen" and "He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not," but we know six months has passed since Charles gave his permission for them to get married in a year--based on Laura telling Ma she would be Laura Ingalls Wilder in six months ("Laura Ingalls Wilder"). Laura had applied for a teaching job in Radner while Almanzo was plowing the field to plant his first crop in "Laura Ingalls Wilder," so that must be spring time. Later in the episode, Laura also talks about the mid-year break coming up and going to teach in Radner in a few weeks, so at least a few months have passed. 

On page 270, Laura mentions that she and Almanzo had been together for three years by the time they rushed their wedding to avoid Eliza Jane's arrival in De Smet to plan a big wedding with Almanzo's mother. Laura feels anxious as she realizes she will be leaving home for good (pg 276), just like TV Laura realizes at the beginning of "Laura Ingalls Wilder" that not only in six months would she be married, but she wouldn't be teaching anymore, which as fans know was not the case until later in the series. 

As we compare the books and the Little House on the Prairie television show, we see how much Michael Landon and his team honored the source material the show is based on up until this point. I feel like once we get into The First Four Years, it will be more challenging to find similarities.