The Long Winter by Laura Ingalls Wilder

It snowed, and then there was a blizzard, a few sunny days, then more snow. Most of the book was talking about sitting in the dark around the cookstove trying to survive until the train arrived in the spring. It's a good survival on the prairie kind of story, just really repetitive. Also, again with the racist depictions of Native Americans, this time comparing them to wild animals... Really? Overall, this book just made me cold and bored.

Not the best Little House book... Is it spring yet?

334 pages

By the Shores of Silver Lake by Laura Ingalls Wilder

A few months ago I started reading the Little House series. I never read them as a kid, because for whatever reason I thought pioneers were boring... Even though I loved camping and outdoors skills, and I already read a ton of historical fiction. Anyway, I have been enjoying this series as an adult and I think this was the best one yet! You get to see some of the history, such as workers' rights disputes, and settling the countryside, and Laura is really coming into her own identity as a person. I kinda wish we got more information about Mary's illness, and I still cringe at all the racism, but I can also see why these books have done so well, even today. Also, the audio books are very well done-I love hearing the fiddle and the narrator singing the old folk songs!

It's fun looking at how prairie life was back in the day.

290 pages