Why do you love Little House? It’s a simple question, but I doubt there is a simple answer. So many of us come to our fandom through different channels. If someone asked you, would you be able to answer readily?
Today I had the opportunity to address a topic, albeit informally, of women I look up to. Laura was of course at the top of the list (along with, incidentally, Annie Sullivan and Helen Keller, the latter of whom was portrayed by — say it with me — Melissa Gilbert, in what was pretty much my favorite TV movie of all time). And because I learned to love Laura as a child, I thought about what it was that drew me to her. I wasn’t required to read the books in school, and I had no peers who were fans. What was it that made me the only Laura Ingalls Wilder fan I knew?
It’s not necessarily what one would expect. I don’t know that there’s an “average” Laura fan, but if there is, I’m not it. I have a weakness for heavy metal music. Specifically Metallica. Sometimes I cuss too much. I don’t sew or quilt or knit — though lately I’m thinking I’d love to learn — and I didn’t learn to cook until I was married. I have no desire to wear a pinafore or a sunbonnet and am skeptical I ever will (though all bets are off if my daughter asks me). I’m not a history person. Pioneering life doesn’t interest me except as it relates directly to Laura. I’ve never longed to travel in a covered wagon or live on the prairie. (Visit? yes. Live? No.) As a child I had only one living grandparent, a Polish immigrant who had nothing to do with the American frontier. And despite my eventual marriage to an actual farmer — whom I didn’t come across until I was almost 30 — farming never held any appeal to me beyond the confines of the Little House pages.
So what was it?
For me, it was family. I wanted Laura’s Ma and Pa. I even wanted snobby sister Mary. I wanted to wake up in a house where everyone saying “Good morning!” made the morning good. I wanted to have a wise, gentle mother whose face and voice rarely betrayed emotion and who could control me by merely saying my name. I wished for a father who tickled me with his beard and played mad-dog and twinkled his eyes at me. (I have to admit, for a long time, lack of facial hair notwithstanding, Michael Landon fit the bill.)
It was also nature. Or more specifically, Laura’s outdoors. I wanted to see that circle of wolves. And although the covered wagon didn’t appeal to me, I coveted the view. I wanted to be in that circle’s exact middle. I dreamed of eating outside, listening to dickissels and lunching on food cooked in a spider. I wanted to be under the stars and able to follow the moonpath on a frozen lake. I wished I could pause on a summer evening with my hand over the chicks, sharing confidences with my mother. I wanted to know what it was like to glide over snow (isn’t “cutter” the coziest word?) in below-zero weather.
This, I see now, is why Laura wrote. Or at least, why she wrote for me. She wanted to share her family and her outdoor memories, because she knew they were worth it. She knew someone like me would read it and be thankful she committed her memories to paper.
You’re welcome, Laura says to me. You’re welcome.
So … why do you love Little House?
It’s fun to try to put why we love Laura and Little House into words. For me, it was a desire to live in a world that seemed much simpler than my own. We didn’t have much growing up, much like Laura, but what she did have seemed so wonderful. No TV, no phones, but instead a family that truly loved each other. It was the idealized family and the skills they needed to survive that I fell in love with. When my Dad let me help plant and take care of our vegetable garden, I felt like Laura! It’s a bit hard to explain, I guess, but it’s the reason I prefer even now to lead a simpler life than technology oftentimes allows – although I can’t give up the internet – how else could you meet all of the other wonderful Little House fans out there!
Folks are responding to us on Twitter too! Here are the responses to “Why do you love Little House?” that have been twittered to us today:
@lauriepettay says: she gave me my first LOVE to read experience in 4th grade!
@prguruk says: the wholesome and simpleness of it all
@DeanBLegacy (Dean Butler) says: For me the appeal is the simple clarity that people flourished or struggled based on their own efforts and choices.
Even as a child, I loved history, fascinated by the story of the Pilgrims coming to Massachusetts (where I lived as a kid) I was also fascinated by the Titanic disaster, the Stone Age, Joan of Arc and so on.
I was fascinated by how differently people lived from me and how much things had changed since that time. I was also intrigued by the fact that despite differences in living conditions, people have always been people throughout history, with the dame feelings and dreams.
I discovered Laura and her family in the fourth grade when our teacher read the first book out loud to the class. I especially liked Laura because she was the spunky, forward-looking one of the family.
That’s “same”, not “dame”. I’m posting while half asleep, yet again.
I am not being smart alecky, but the best answer I have is:
I just did and still do LOVE Little House. It’s just a part of who I am….I love Little House for the same reason I love the smell of rain in the summer. I just do….
My third grade teacher introduced us to Little House by reading “On the Banks of Plum Creek” to us. I was always a reader, escaping into the lives of many young women: Nancy Drew, Trixie Beldon and, of course, Laura Ingalls. (This tells you about how old I am!) When I was older, a single mom of three young boys, living in the cold Pennsylvania winters, I spied “The Long Winter” on a supermarket shelf. I picked it up and read it over night. It was so helpful to me in considering my own troubles to see the strength and perserverance that helped the Ingalls family to cope with so much more. I quickly bought the paperback versions of the rest of the books. Each year, I reread the entire series! I still find them comforting, inspiring and a way to put a perspective on my own life.
I loved the books as a child and teen ager. Little House was my introduction to the pioneer life. Plum Creek and Silver Lake to the spunky Laura. Long Winter to hardship and Little Town and Happy Golden Years were my introduction to romance.
As an adult I’ve fallen in love with Laura the real person. I believe that I truly love her more than I love the books. She is just “there”, a niggle in the back of my brain that gives a frame of reference to various situations. It is difficult to put into words but I liken it to the doctoral dissertation that never ends. There is always more to learn about Laura.
I agree with Sheila in that these books are most definitely part of my list of “comfort books”. I can’t even count the number of times I’ve read them.
I love the Little House books because when I read them, I become Laura. I feel as if the things she wrote about are happening to me. I feel the cold wind blowing during the blizzards. I smell the violets, feel the mossy grass beneath my bare feet, hear the rain on the roof of the new house on Plum Creek, and even feel my palm itching with the desire to slap Mary. I feel as if I knew Laura and her family, or at least knew them as Laura portrayed them. I’ve never felt so strongly about any other books I’ve read. Each time I read them, I feel like I’ve rediscovered a best friend all over again.
My school librarian introduced me to the Little House books when I was 8. They were the first books I read that transported me to the places described in them. I identified so strongly with Laura that I named my first daughter after her!
I first heard of Little House in school when the teacher read On the Banks of Plum Creek to us after our noon recess. But I think the book that really got me hooked was On the Way Home. I read it and realized that Laura and Almanzo traveled right through the county where I lived! That made me start wanting to know more about her and her family. Then years later, when we lived in Rapid City, I discovered that Carrie lived in Keystone and I started reading the booklets published by William Anderson. I guess I love Little House because I know that the stories and people in them are real and that their families were close loving families even in the face of hard times. That should be an inspiration to everyone.
I am preparing to go on a little “Laura Pilgrimmage” with my sister in law in just a few days: Pepin, Walnut Grove, De Smet. I am so excited. At age 48 I am rereading the entire series and cannot believe how much I’m enjoying them AGAIN. I think I’m enjoying them even more as an adult. I find myself in tears at times, and I don’t recall that reading them as a youth. Throughout my entire life I’ve referenced Laura Ingalls Wilder in so many instances. “Well Laura Ingalls went barefoot all summer to save her shoes.” I’m sure I’m annoying, but the books are absolutely fascinating to me. Having them be true stories makes all the difference. The survival element, Ma and Pa’s ability to make do all the time and to make a happy life with very little, Laura’s adventurous spirit–wonderful characteristics in a human being–which I’ve tried to live out in my life. I’ll think of all you Laura lovers on my trip!
Have a wonderful Little House trip!
It just all seems so cosy and warm. And I think Michael Landon is lovely!
One question I have having watched Little House on TV recently. How far away did the Ingalls live from Walnut Grove? How long would it have taken them to walk into town? Does anyone know?
Growing up on a farm in the 60′s with 7 brother’s and sister’s you did not have much but one Christmas i received a full set of the books from my parents. This is the only gift I received that year. I still have the set and it created my love of reading and my love of Laura. This is my obsession even though I am 53 years old. Looking back on it now I cannot thank my mother enough for putting those books in my hands. The Christmas before she died she asked me what I wanted for Christmas and I told her there was a new LIW book that had come out that I did not have and would like that. She seemed amazed that the book was my wish. I did get that book for Christmas along with an inscription inside from her. This book is the prize of my collection. I guess it comes down to I love everthing “Little House” because of the connection Laura gave me to my mother and now to my grand-daughters.
Thank you!!!