More Gifts for Laura Fans

Little House on the Prairie: The Complete Series Deluxe Remastered Edition - DVD. All nine seasons of the beloved classic show starring Michael Landon and Melissa Gilbert.

Dean Butler, who portrayed Almanzo Wilder on the Little House on the Prairie, produced this documentary about Almanzo's life growing up on a farm in Burke, NY. Using old photographs, excerpts from Wilder's Farmer Boy, and the beautiful landscape in Burke, NY, Butler has brought Almanzo Wilder to life in a unique and touching way. I reviewed it here.

Historical photographs, book excerpts, reenactments, and expert insights give viewers a glimpse into the life of one of America's most beloved writers. The artwork of illustrator Cheryl Harness captures the essence of Wilder's Little House series and brings this legacy to life through animation. Discussions with Laura Ingalls Wilder biographer, John E. Miller, and Pamela Smith Hill, editor of Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Pioneer Girl: The Annotated Autobiography, add depth to this engaging story covering Wilder's legacy.

Bonus features include topics on Native Americans and African Americans on the prairie, the beautiful work of American artist Harvey Dunn, and the Morgan Horse. Viewers are encouraged to travel behind the scenes with director Dean Butler as he chronicles his work on this documentary, and there is a discussion with illustrator Cheryl Harness on her contributions. Produced in association with Friendly Family Productions.

See my review here.

This 2005 television mini-series marked a return to the autobiographical books by Laura Ingalls Wilder. Portraying a more realistic view of the pioneering era than the now classic television show, Little House on the Prairie, this Disney production chronicled the life of the Ingalls family as they staked their claim in Kansas. 

Beyond the Prairie: The True Story of Laura Ingalls Wilder is a CBS production that was originally released as two TV movies in 1999 and 2002. Now on one DVD, this chronicles the life of a teenage Laura in De Smet, how she meets Almanzo Wilder, their courtship and marriage, life on Rocky Ridge Farm, and Laura's return to De Smet to see her ailing father. You can read my thoughts on these movies here and here. 

DVD Review: Little House on the Prairie: The Legacy of Laura Ingalls Wilder

Last summer's road trip to visit many of the Laura Ingalls Wilder sites left me with a renewed sense of awe over how much she experienced in her lifetime. So, imagine my delight when, earlier this year, I was approached by Friendly Family Productions to review Little House on the Prairie: The Legacy of Laura Ingalls Wilder. This special new edition includes not only a 56-minute documentary on my favorite writer, it also includes 35 minutes of bonus features that are narrated, directed, and co-produced by Dean Butler, who played Almanzo Wilder on the classic Little House on the Prairie television series. Butler's Legacy Documentaries banner also brought Wilder fans, Almanzo Wilder: Life Before Laura, which we reviewed here.

This documentary does not journey through Laura's entire life. Staying true to the Legacy Documentaries brand, it captures the defining moments of Wilder's life, and does so in a touching way that only those who have been part of Wilder's legacy can accomplish. While Laura's early life and marriage to Almanzo are mentioned, they only serve to sharpen the focus of the documentary, which remains strongly on Wilder's writing career: how the loss of her family, along with the concern that the pioneering era was slipping away, inspired her to put pen to paper; how farm life inspired her journalism work for the Missouri Ruralist; how the sometimes tense relationship with her daughter, Rose, shaped her writing, and how through that experience Wilder grew as a writer; the creation of the Laura Ingalls Wilder Award, and the series' continued popularity with young readers.

As was done with the Almanzo Wilder production, historical photographs, book excerpts, reenactments, and expert insights give viewers a glimpse into the life of one of America's most beloved writers. While many of the photographs are ones Wilder aficionados have seen before, they have been used in new ways to bring a special touch to Laura's story. The artwork of illustrator Cheryl Harness captures the essence of Wilder's Little House series and brings this legacy to life through animation. Discussions with Laura Ingalls Wilder biographer, John E. Miller, and Pamela Smith Hill, editor of Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Pioneer Girl: The Annotated Autobiography, add depth to this engaging story covering Wilder's legacy.

Bonus features include topics on Native Americans and African Americans on the prairie, the beautiful work of American artist Harvey Dunn, and the Morgan Horse. Viewers are encouraged to travel behind the scenes with director Dean Butler as he chronicles his work on this documentary, and there is a discussion with illustrator Cheryl Harness on her contributions.

Produced in association with Friendly Family Productions, Little House on the Prairie: The Legacy of Laura Ingalls Wilder is a must have for any Wilder fan.


Directors: Dean Butler
Producers: Dean Butler, Robin Bernheim-Burger, Trip Friendly (Executive Producer)
Format: Color, Closed-captioned
Region: All Regions
Number of discs: 1
Studio: Friendly Family Productions, LLC
Run Time: 91 minutes


I received a free copy of this DVD from Friendly Family Productions. This review contains my honest opinions, which I have not been compensated for in any way.

Little House on the Prairie: The Legacy of Laura Ingalls Wilder DVD Now Available at Legacy Documentaries Site

photo credit: www.legacydocsshop.com

Now available for purchase from Legacy Documentaries is the "untold story of Laura’s life from both a fictional and historical perspective." Little House on the Prairie: The Legacy of Laura Ingalls Wilder is the story of one of the world's most beloved children's authors. With her Little House series, Laura Ingalls Wilder captured the pioneering spirit for generations of young people.

Dean Butler portrayed Almanzo Wilder on the classic family drama, Little House on the Prairie. As president and executive producer at Peak Moore Enterprises, Butler's Legacy Documentaries brand and his continued interest in Wilder's legacy led to the documentary DVD release of Almanzo Wilder: Life Before Laura, in addition to bonus content for the Little House on the Prairie TV show DVD set. Now, Wilder fans can add to this collection with a new DVD about Wilder's life that includes "literary and history experts, excepts from the Little House books, Helen Sewell illustrations, dramatic reenactments, digital animations, archival photographs and a beautiful original score."

Visit www.legacydocsshop.com to purchase this DVD. 

DVD Review: Little House on the Prairie: The Legacy of Laura Ingalls Wilder

This highly anticipated DVD release produced by Legacy Documentaries in association with Family Friendly Productions, tells the story of the legacy that Laura Ingalls Wilder created through her writing.

Little House on the Prairie: The Legacy of Laura Ingalls Wilder is an in-depth look into how Laura came to write her famous children's books and the legacy she has left behind. Through interviews with historian and author John E. Miller, author Pamela Smith Hill, and Tanya Hart, Assistant Professor of History at the University of Kansas, viewers learn not only more about the time period in which Wilder lived, but also how her books came to be published, and about her relationship with her daughter, Rose Wilder Lane.


Dean Butler (Almanzo Wilder, Little House on the Prairie, NBC) co-produced, directed and narrated this moving story of Wilder's life. As with Almanzo Wilder: Life Before Laura, this production includes: live reenactments, animated colored Garth Williams illustrations from the Little House books, historical photographs, original artwork, and readings from Wilder's books. Those with an interest in this time period will find information on how Wilder's work--her articles and her books--preserved this history for generations to come, and how her work brought to life the equal partnership between frontiersman and frontierswoman. What I especially enjoyed was the time spent discussing the collaboration between mother and daughter and the evolution of both women's careers.

Actress Katherine Cannon reads the excerpts from the Little House books, and the beautiful music of Jay Asher adds so much to this production. For those of us who enjoyed the music of David Rose from the Little House on the Prairie television series, Asher's work makes us feel in familiar territory. With his own unique style, Asher captures the vibrant, romantic, sometimes difficult life that Wilder lived.


Little House on the Prairie: The Legacy of Laura Ingalls Wilder also includes bonus material, the best of which is the Director's Diary, where Butler takes you through the experience of shooting this documentary in various locations. Other bonus items are the trailers for Almanzo Wilder: Life Before Laura and the Pa's Fiddle Project.


Every Laura fan will want to own a copy of this beautifully created story of Wilder's legacy. This DVD is on sale at the Laura Ingalls Wilder Museum in Walnut Grove, MN. Visit them online at http://www.walnutgrove.org/museum.htm or contact them toll free at 1-800-528-7280.



I purchased a copy of this DVD from the Laura Ingalls Wilder Museum in Walnut Grove, MN to share with my family. This review contains my honest opinions, for which I have not been compensated in any way. 

New Laura Ingalls Wilder Related Products for My Collection

I have an entire bookshelf dedicated to books by and about Laura Ingalls Wilder and her family. Today, I treated myself to some neat Laura related titles.

I was on the fence about this book for a while. The reviews are as controversial as what the book seems to be. I'm not sure how I'll feel about it once I've read it, but I was afraid it might go out of print if I waited too long.

Here's the official description:

Fellman shows that Laura Ingalls Wilder's magical Little House series contained a covert political message that made many readers comfortable with the resurgence of conservatism. Because both Wilder and her daughter, Rose Wilder Lane, opposed the New Deal programs being implemented as they wrote, their books use family history as an argument against the state's protection of individuals from economic uncertainty, emphasizing the Ingalls family's isolation and resilience in the face of crises. Fellman argues that the books' popularity helped lay the groundwork for a negative response to big government and a positive view of political individualism, contributing to the acceptance of contemporary conservatism while perpetuating a mythic West. Fellman also explores the continuing presence of the books--and their message--in modern cultural institutions from classrooms to tourism, newspaper editorials to Internet message boards.

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I wanted to buy Farmer Boy Goes West from the moment it came out. Almanzo is a favorite character of mine--we can thank Dean Butler (Almanzo Wilder, NBC) for that. This book follows Almanzo's story as his family decides to leave New York and move west.

"Almanzo Wilder is going west! He and his family are moving all the way from their cozy farm in Malone, New York, to the bustling town of Spring Valley, Minnesota. Almanzo can’t wait to explore, but life in Spring Valley isn’t what he expected. The Wilders have to stay with relatives in a small, cramped house where Almanzo’s aunt Martha is cold and unfriendly. Almanzo longs for the freedom he had back home, and he especially misses his horse, Starlight. Even as he makes new friends at school and helps his father pick a plot of land for the family to settle on, Almanzo can’t help but wonder: Is Minnesota the right place for the Wilders? Or do they belong in New York?

First introduced in Laura Ingalls Wilder’s classic Little House book Farmer Boy, Almanzo Wilder’s adventures continue in Farmer Boy Goes West."

Kirkus Reviews was not very kind to this book, but maybe if we had more "safe, comfortable, respectful," and wholesome literature out there for young people, the world would be a kinder place.

I wanted to catch Pa's Fiddle: The Music of America on PBS when it aired, but I didn't see it. I was very disappointed, as I knew Dean Butler played an important role in its production. Now that it is available for sale, I didn't waste any time getting my hands on it.

Here is the description I found online:

Live concert performances of the music of the Little House on the Prairie books by Laura Ingalls Wilder.


Little House on the Prairie, the autobiographical book series by Laura Ingalls Wilder, holds in its pages a comprehensive review of 19th-century American folk music via the very real character of Charles Pa Ingalls (1836-1902), a highly acclaimed fiddler of the time and Laura's own non-fictional father. For the first time, in January 2012, a concert based on this music was performed before a live audience at the Loveless Barn just outside of Nashville, TN for broadcast by the PBS television network. The DVD release contains 14 performances with bonus features including a performance from Natalie Grant, notes on Pa's Fiddle Music from Dale Cockrell, and the video short Little House on the Prairie: Legacy of Laura Ingalls Wilder.

An effort co-produced by Dean Butler Almanzo on the Little House on the Prairie TV show) and esteemed musicologist Dale Cockrell (President of Pa's Fiddle Recordings), PA'S FIDDLE: THE MUSIC OF AMERICA features performances from some of the finest of today's acoustic musicians, enlisting the talents of award-winning musician and musical director Randy Scruggs and all-star Pa's Fiddle Band with Matt Combs (fiddle), Dennis Crouch (upright bass), Chad Cromwell drums), Hoot Hester (mandolin) and Shad Cobb (banjo), along with featured artists Randy Travis, Rodney Atkins, Ronnie Milsap, Ashton Shepherd, The Roys, Natalie Grant and Committed (NBC Sing Off Champions). Says Dean Butler of the production, 'Dale Cockrell loves traditional American music and I love the stories of American pioneer life written by Laura Ingalls Wilder. Having this opportunity to share the music Laura recalled in her unforgettable novels is nothing less than a dream come true.'

Now available at the Laura Ingalls Wilder Museum in Walnut Grove, Minnesota, Little House on the Prairie: The Legacy of Laura Ingalls Wilder DVD. To learn more about it, you can visit http://lauraslittlehouselegacy.com/. I ordered my copy yesterday. I can't wait to watch it! 

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Beyond Little House Announces Dean Butler’s Laura Documentary in General Release

Beyond Little House made an important announcement that fans of Laura Ingalls Wilder will want to hear about. Dean Butler and Legacy Documentaries, in association with Friendly Family Productions, have worked tirelessly to bring you Little House on the Prairie: The Legacy of Laura Ingalls Wilder, a DVD that will soon be available at the Laura Ingalls Wilder Museum in Walnut Grove, MN.

You can find more details at http://beyondlittlehouse.com/2012/08/14/butlers-laura-documentary-in-general-release/ To learn more about this DVD, visit http://lauraslittlehouselegacy.com/

New Laura Ingalls Wilder Documentary Coming Summer 2010!

Dean Butler (Almanzo Wilder, NBC) and Peak Moore Enterprises, Inc. are currently hard at work on a new Laura Ingalls Wilder documentary that will be released through Legacy Documentaries.

Back in November, Dean posted about his amazing trip to De Smet, SD at his blog. Since then he's been very quiet about this project.

Then on April 10th, he posted a link to the trailer for Little House on the Prairie: The Legacy of Laura Ingalls Wilder. You can view this trailer on YouTube.

The plan is for a summer release. Hopefully it will be ready when Dean visits Walnut Grove, MN on July 17th. You can find out more about that here. Alison (Nellie Oleson) Arngrim will be in Walnut Grove the following weekend.