Rachel Reads & Reviews

Just as I finally read the Little House on the Prarie series last summer, now I’ve gotten to her daughter’s life written by a close friend, Roger Lea McBride as Rose Wilder becomes a new kind of pioneer.

1. Little Town in the Ozarks: Reluctantly, the Wilder family heads to town in order to support their farm, but soon find a whole lot of adventure instead. Rose continues her awkward adolescence stuck between envy of the town girls, but too educated to really relate to the country folk anymore. She also comes to have a greater understanding of her morals and politics. For example, the US enters the Spanish American War which breeds questions of whether the US is justified in interferance and is war really as glorious as it sounds. Ma Wilder also gets to join the debate stage on who has been underserved more in the US, the indigenous or the negro. While the answer is obviously both, Laura’s eloquence is epic and the debate points still stand today. There are other great points like the old fashioned pie auction, Swiney finding out his real name and general workaday life that characterized the era.
2. New Dawn on Rocky Ridge: The author’s note wrote that the Rose Years was a delight not only due to the author’s relationship with the real life Rose, but in seeing how young people think and feel remain constant through history. This is best demonstrated in this book as the US enters the 20th century with many older people declaring that the world is going to the brink with fancy machines replacing hard work that soon people won’t have jobs any more, and the moral dissolution will be rampant, and the big city politicians only serve to bolster their power, not work for the common man. It all sounds too familiar, doesn’t it? But it’s not all gloom. Rose really grows up in this book from brushing with a scandelous reputation, the triumph of their first apple orchard crop, and realizing her feelings for Paul Cooley. It also has a rare glimpse from Laure Ingells POV as she travels back to Dakota to be at Pa’s side when he dies. It’s very full circle and tearjerking. Rose and Laura also reaffirm their mother-daughter bond even as Rose grows to be her own person and rebels a bit, you know their family bond is tight.
3. On the Other Side of the Hill: Rose continues to navigate her life between farm and town, and the hijinks of school work when a new teacher comes into town. Pranks ensue and Rose matures a bit too as she struggles to maintain her friendship with Blanche Codey when her snobbish Chicago cousin comes to town. It’s a bit of a filler book, but I quite enjoy it for Rose’s epic takedown of said snobbish cousin and the fun scenes like Abe and Effie’s wedding.
4. Little Farm in the Ozarks: Seven year old Laura is quite settled in the Ozarks but there is a lot of work ahead. This book most reminds me of the original series with its in-depth description of farming and the like that gives readers a real look of how different it was back then, but also how exciting. From introducing new friends like Abe and Swiney Baird to fighting forest fires, and Rose’s internal conflicts like when her jealous lie almost ruins Abe’s relationship and her attempts at winning the school spelling bee.
5. On the Banks of the Bayou: A restless Rose finally gets to heed the call of the world beyond Mansfield as she travels to Baton Rogue, LA for her high school education. This is the shortest book in the series, but a lot of fun as Rose experiences the big and unique flavor of the Bayou with its Spanish, French, Creole and Arcadian influences. Readers also get to see Rose really come of her own as she learns three years of Latin in one year, gets a college-grad beau, joins the cause of the Social Democrats and uses her wits to incoporate a plea for suffragism in her valedictorian speech despite protests from the old-fashioned school administrator.