#lhop

the little house on the prairie series, by laura ingalls wilder (30-ish/12/2020)

this series has a stakehold on such a huge part of my heart. this series has been with me since i was nine or ten, but perhaps even younger. these books, full of stories of a young, spirited and brave girl from wisconsin made me believe that i could be like the characters within these books too, as free and wild as the horses almanzo raised, as good and loyal as jack the french bulldog. perhaps more of a mary than laura, but hey. these books taught me a lot about dealing with my emotions and how to behave in situations i had yet to experience. i could always remember ma’s advice, or imagine mary chastising me for swinging my legs whilst sitting on a too-tall chair.

this series is one of my most cherished possessions. in addition to the full box set of these books, i also have the whole tv series. these books have stuck with me since i read them for the first time, and they are incredibly near and dear to my heart. i have definitely read the later books of the series a lot more than the earlier ones. not necessarily because i prefer them, but because i think i find them a little more relatable to me right now. this series taught me to love history just that little bit more, and is the basis and capstone of all my farming knowledge.

i reread the end of this series, as i had a particular scene stuck in my head, and i needed to reread it as to find it. instead of just reading all the chapters titled ‘christmas’, i ended up reading from a little ways into little town on the prarie after skimming through the long winter. i stayed up until 4 am reading until the knife scene in these happy golden years, and then waking up later that morning and reading until the end of the first four years.