Little House in the Ozarks by Laura Ingalls Wilder (1991, Hardcover, Illustrated)

I fell in love with the world Laura Ingalls Wilder painted for me when I read her Little House series as a young girl. I was so happy to stumble across this collection of articles she wrote for the farmer's paper near her homestead. The articles are not necessarily in chronological order, instead move around the 1910's and 20's from subject to subject. In one article, she gives a wonderful account of a woman's responsibility to educate herself on the best use of her newly won right to vote. In another, she discusses her philosophy on the raising of children. Since this isn't a novel, but several short articles, one can read this book a bit at a time without fear of losing the plot line. Truly a delightful read!

Not just for turn-of-the century happenings, Laura was very aware that the times they were a-changing and people's lives were being forever changed by 'modern' devices and beliefs. Her articles were to exhort people to continue to lead moral, godly lives. Each writing can be read as a short story but will have you musing even as today more and more technical changes take place almost daily. It would have been extremely interesting to see her facebook/myspace pages and/or blogs; then again, this is hers with what they had back in those days. I bought the book to see what turn-of-the century daily living was like before cars, and other 20th Century inventions. This is even better because Laura has written about both worlds, the one in which she grew up and the one on the horizon. I am writing this after reading only about 5 of her articles, so I can only imagine what else awaits within the pages. I am interested in the perception of one who was an eyewitness to the emergence of today's conveniences. Excuse me, I have some reading to do. I think you'll enjoy this great find and definitely will not be disappointed.