On Story Bent

"One chilly fall day, Pa tells Laura and Mary that he must go into the Big Woods to look for a deer, for there is no meat left to eat in the little house. The next day Pa comes home not with a deer, but instead with a very special story to tell Laura and Mary." (from dustjacket) One of the first Little House picture books I remember from my growing up, this one is very autumnal and gentle. I must admit, with the passing of years, I do think this story of Pa's is curious. I can see him leaving the doe and her fawn, but, I mean, when (in that day and age particularly) would you not have shot the buck? My daughter must also be a country girl through and through as she was puzzling over the same question on her own. xD But on the other hand, though many details in the full length books were adjusted from the way they happened in real life, I'm not exactly sure why Laura or Rose would have felt the need to soften this particular story (when other similar frontier subjects ...

I really love this one! I was only able to find and add it to our collection this last Christmas, so it’s not as familiar as some of the others in the series, but I just loved the gentle narrative. It was the first story wherein the small person was really following historical differences then v. now (i.e. everyone taking turns in the washtub on a Saturday night and then the no running and jumping rules on Sundays). And then the birthday celebration was so sweet! It gave me the same feeling of simplicity and pure enjoyment I had when first reading the other books growing up. :) Happy to recommend it! <3

From the author's note at the beginning: "At Chrismastime, in the New Hampshire town where I live, it is traditional for white electric candles to be put in house windows and in the windows of the Baptist Church. It is a beautiful sight. But the early residents of this New England town and other villages weren't always so festive. [some early settlers] tended to avoid any observance of the holiday whatsoever. In fact, one source tells of an Irishman being chased out of a New England town in 1755 because he was 'a Christmas Man.' All of this set me to thinking, 'What might have happened in the early 1800s if a family accustomed to celebrating Christmas moved into a New England town? Using historical fact and my research as a departure point, I began to imagine that it could have happened this way..." I grew up with this story and it's just delightful. Tomie dePaola is, of course, well known in picture book circles and this one fits right in with his be...

 "When Pa decided at the last moment to set out for California to claim his share of the fabled gold, Minnie just knew she couldn't bear being left behind in quiet old St. Joe with her spinster Aunt Addie. The trail west was a trail of bones, she'd heard, but regardless, one bright sunshiny morning Minnie Weldon took leave of her pretty blue and white bedroom with its Rob Peter quilt and starched curtains and stowed away behind the flour barrel in the big covered wagon.  "Minnie took a gamble, a rash one at that, and Pa nearly turned back when she finally climbed out of the wagon. But it also won Minnie a whole new life in the vast freedom of the prairies, the arduous crossing of the Rockies, and at last the descent into the wild hurly-burly of San Francisco at the height of the Gold Rush. There, for a time, Minnie had to survive by her wits alone and in the process of doing so amassed her own crock of gold." (from the dust jacket) I distinctly remember reading T...