Happy Birthday Laura!

In Chapter 20 of Little Town on the Prairie, Laura Ingalls Wilder shares the time she attended a birthday party for Ben Woodworth. It seems Laura didn't like much about her appearance. She wanted to be "tall and willowy, like Nellie Oleson". Her eyes were too far apart and they didn't sparkle. Though her hair was think and long, it wasn't golden like her sister Mary's.

Laura and her friend, Mary Power, went to the party together. They had: oyster soup with tiny oyster crackers, potato patties, codfish balls, and biscuits. They drank coffee and there was cake for dessert. The whole oranges that were cut to look like flowers were eaten with the cake. Then they played games and Laura told her Pa and Ma all about it.

Laura had so much fun that she had trouble concentrating in school. We learn in the next chapter that Laura will turn sixteen in ten months.

When you read chapters like this, you realize not everything has changed for teenage girls. Laura was not happy with how she looked, which is a problem that plagues many girls today. She was nervous about going to the party, but she had fun, and then school no longer held as much of her attention.

We see the young woman that Laura is quickly becoming. Laura meets Almanzo for the first time, though she knew who he was. They exchange name cards and soon Almanzo is escorting her home in the evenings.

Today, we honor the legacy that Laura Ingalls Wilder left us. Her books have touched hearts for generations and show no signs of slowing down. Television series and TV movies have been based upon those books that Laura wrote at the urging of her daughter Rose. Those same books are used by students who are studying the pioneering era, and there are still young girls who dress up like Laura on Halloween.

On her 143rd birthday, we offer our thanks that one little girl growing up on the prairie, many years later, put pen to paper and shared her life with us. With the popularity of the Little House on the Prairie Musical, and Dean Butler and Legacy Documentaries working on Laura Ingalls Wilder related projects, Laura's legacy will continue to play a role in the lives of many families. May we always remember Laura Ingalls Wilder!

Happy Birthday Laura!

New Story at Fanfiction.net

I wrote a new fan fiction story over the holidays. It is titled "A Father's Heart," and it takes place during Laura and Almanzo's engagement in Season 6.

It is Christmastime, and Charles is struggling with the knowledge that next year Laura will no longer be living at the little house on Plum Creek. The relationship between Charles and Laura as she becomes a woman and gets ready to marry Almanzo is ripe with so many storylines, that I often find myself drawn to this period in the show's timeline.

You can find the story here. I hope you enjoy it!

What Do You Think of the New Look?

I'm in the mood for change lately. Traveling around the blogosphere checking out new blogs to host my clients has made me want bigger and better things for my blogs. So, with that in mind, I've added a background to this blog.

Let me know what you think of the new look. Feel free to share any ideas you have for what you would like to see here.

Thanks!

New Survey Now Open!

Our new survey asks if you plan to purchase the upcoming Little House on the Prairie cast member autobiographies by Alison Arngrim and Melissa Sue Anderson.

The polls are open until February 13th. Feel free to share your thoughts in this thread.

Spring 2010 Brings Autobiographies from Little House on the Prairie Cast Members

It looks like the time for Little House on the Prairie cast member autobiographies is here. Melissa Gilbert's Prairie Tale is a New York Times Bestseller. And this year will see the release of two more cast autobiographies, one from Alison Arngrim (Nellie Oleson) and the other by Melissa Sue Anderson (Mary Ingalls Kendall).

I own Prairie Tale, and plan to review it at The Book Connection, hopefully before I receive Arngrim's and Anderson's books, which I already have on preorder at Amazon. These books are due to come out around the same time, and I've received notices from Amazon that they will be shipped earlier than originally expected. Anderson's book looks like it will be out about a month before Arngrim's.



There aren't many details out about Arngrim's book, that I could quickly find, anyway, except that the title is Confessions of a Prairie Bitch: How I Survived Nellie Oleson and Learned to Love Being Hated, and that it will be released around June 15th by a new imprint of HarperCollins, It Books.

Anderson's book is being released at the beginning of May from Globe Pequot. This is the product description of The Way I See It: A Look Back at My Life on Little House:


When other girls her age were experiencing their first crushes, Melissa Sue Anderson was receiving handwritten marriage proposals from fans as young, and younger, than she was. When other girls were dreaming of their first kiss, Melissa was struggling through hers in front of a camera. From age eleven in 1974 until she left the show in 1981, Melissa Anderson literally grew up before the viewers of Little House on the Prairie.

Melissa, as Mary, is remembered by many as “the blind sister”—and she was the only actor in the series to be nominated for an Emmy. In The Way I See It, she takes readers onto the set and inside the world of the iconic series created by Michael Landon, who, Melissa discovered, was not perfect, as much as he tried to be. In this memoir she also shares her memories of working with guest stars like Todd Bridges, Lou Gossett, Jr., Mariette Hartley, Sean Penn, Patricia Neal, and Johnny Cash.

In addition to stories of life on the set, Melissa offers revealing looks at her relationships off-set with her costars, including the other Melissa (Melissa Gilbert) and Alison Arngrim, who portrayed Nellie Oleson on the show. And she relates stories of her guest appearances on iconic programs such as The Love Boat and The Brady Bunch.

Filled with personal, revealing anecdotes and memorabilia from the Little House years, this book is also a portrait of a child star who became a successful adult actress and a successful adult. These are stories from “the other Ingalls sister” that have never been told.

I wish both ladies great success with their books. Could there be more cast autobiographies coming in the future? A Dean Butler one would certainly make my day.