Romance: Little House on the Prairie

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Evaluation of the book:

The story of Little House on the Prairie is a familiar one to most adult readers. Little Laura travels with her family of Ma, Pa, Mary, and baby Carrie to the wild west where they settle on the prairie to begin a new life. The book shares the trials of this journey and new life from the point of view of young Laura in a simple and childlike way. The writing is simple; the book is clearly meant to be read by young children. To further encourage its younger readers, the book is illustrated every couple pages with simple, black and white sketches of Laura’s adventures. The book’s simple language and simple illustrations are an interesting way to express the more complicated story of life on the prairie, making the story approachable to a young audience.

Little House on the Prairie teaches many lessons about history to its reader. Specifically, it relates what daily life on the prairie was like from the perspective of a very young child. The child reader can learn a lot about history from little Laura. The childlike simplicity of the story makes the history approachable and helps the child reader imagine what it would have been like to live back then, on the prairie with the Ingalls.

In addition to its historical lessons, Little House on the Prairie’s pages are filled with didactic lessons on how little girls ought to behave. A couple examples: “ ‘Oh, sing it again, Pa! Sing it again!’ she cried, before she remembered that children must be seen and not heard. Then she was quiet” (p. 66); “Laura didn’t want to say anything. She wanted to keep those pretty beads. Her chest felt all hot inside, and she wished with all her might that Mary wouldn’t always be such a good girl” (p. 179); “In a minute they would have remembered, but before they did, Ma said, gently, ‘Aren’t you going to thank Mr. Edwards?’” (p. 250). For better or for worse, this didacticism makes up the heart and soul of the book.

Response:

Although Little House on the Prairie is an adorably beloved classic story, it is a bit too didactic in its tone. It is easy to tell, even for a very young reader, that the story is told by an adult who is trying to reach down to the child’s level, rather than an adult who actually understands children. That being said, the historical significance of this book is not to be overlooked. It teaches lessons of America’s history at a level that children can grasp and understand. I enjoyed this book, and the others in its series, immensely when I was growing up and I enjoyed reading it again now as an adult, despite noticing its overly didactic tone and simplistic writing.

Conclusion:

A simple telling of a complicated history is never to be overestimated. Little House on the Prairie brings life on the prairie down to a level that today’s children can imagine and learn from. Its overly didactic tone (not to mention politically incorrect descriptions of Native Americans) aside, this book is an innocent and adorable story of little Laura and her family on the prairie. Whether for school or for pleasure, young children should be encouraged to read this book to see what their ancestors had to live through in order to fulfill the American dream.

APA Style Reference: 

Wilder, L. I. (1971). Little house on the prairie. New York, NY: HarperTrophy.