Itsy decided this evening that I would read from Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder. Published in 1932 it is the first in the series that ultimately make up the source material for the old television series Little House on the Prairie. The setting of the book is Wilder’s childhood in the family log cabin the woods of Pepin, Wisconsin with her parents, two sisters, dog and cat.

Caleb protested vigorously against the choice preferring a more adventurous book like Halo or something war-related but Wilder’s book won out and he grudgingly decided to listen anyhow.

The book is magical from the first word. I admit to being a fan of the television series as a child (along with Bonanza, The Waltons, Swiss Family Robinson and other family fare) however I have never read the books before. I bought the series for Itsy at Christmas and they have not really been cracked till now.

Wilder’s narrative is so captivating and innocent both Itsy and Caleb were fairly enthralled early on. At one point Wilder describes playing house in the attic with her older sister Mary.

“Mary was bigger than Laura, and she had a rag doll named Nettie. Laura had only a corncob wrapped in a handkerchief, but it was a good doll. It was named Susan. It wasn’t Susan’s fault that she was only a corncob. Sometimes Mary let Laura hold Nettie, but she only did it when Susan couldn’t see.” 

At this point in the reading Caleb bursts into laughter at the image of such a doll. I start laughing too. The very idea of it and how Wilder writes about it is brilliant and funny and I love it.

We have completed chapter one and Caleb is hooked now (while he would probably not admit it). I am too and I am old enough to be fine with admitting it.