Lizzie Skurnick, author of the recently released Shelf Discovery: The Teen Classics We Never Stopped Reading, used to write a column on Jezebel dissecting the young-adult novels we read as kids–and likely reread as adults. (Her book is based on…
Which Came First, the Song or the Cat?
Sometimes I’m asked how I decide what to research in the vast world of LIW, or why I know some amazingly trivial things but not others. It usually starts quite innocently enough. A comment, a mention in an article, a…
Blizzard Warnings in Southern Minnesota
Do you remember my post a few weeks back about snow storms in October? Well, after an unseasonably warm and sunny November, it appears our Minnesota winter will arrive tomorrow–with a vengeance. The forecast calls for 5 to 8 inches…
A Little House Christmas
This time of year, some folks get caught up in the hustle and bustle and stress of the holiday season, while others keep things much more simple. Still others feel caught in the former group while wishing they were part…
A Rose in December
…a Rose in December (is) much rarer than a rose in June, and must be paid for accordingly. ~Laura Ingalls Wilder, in The First Four Years This quotation has been going through my head for the last month, every time…
LIWLRA T-Shirts!
We’re celebrating the founding of the Laura Ingalls Wilder Legacy and Research Association with T-shirts! The shirts are baby pink with brown ink, and the design, created by MSU alum Kristina Sukalski, features Laura Ingalls Wilder in a signature font…
Laura? Laura Wilder? Laura Ingalls Wilder? Mrs. AJ Wilder?
I’ve been doing a lot of writing about Laura lately. On the one side I’m crafting various drafts of a press release about LauraPalooza. On the other, I’m creating reprint articles as well as working on myriad new articles for…
What’s the Best Age to Read the Little House Books?
Today I got an email from a friend. She knew about my Laura Ingalls Wilder obsession interest and she was holiday shopping for her niece. She asked me what would be a good age for someone to start reading the…
Tentative LauraPalooza Schedule
We’re still at the anything-can-change stage, since proposals and papers are still coming in. The full schedule will be available on February 7, 2010, Laura’s birthday. But here’s what we’re looking at tentatively (with everything subject to change): Thursday morning,…
Happy Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving dinner was good. Pa had shot a wild goose for it. Ma had to stew the goose because there was no fireplace, and no oven in the little stove. But she made dumplings in the gravy. There were corn…