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harmonictempest's review against another edition
5.0
I had forgotten how much about Indians is in this one, and that the reason they have to move on is because the government doesn’t make the Indians move.
Great book to read along with my 8yo. We each marked lots of pages to talk about with each other and there’s a lot of great conversations to have about this part of our history, different cultures living alongside each other, why the Indians might have resented the sellers, and the different viewpoints Pa and Mr Scott etc have on the Indians.
Great book to read along with my 8yo. We each marked lots of pages to talk about with each other and there’s a lot of great conversations to have about this part of our history, different cultures living alongside each other, why the Indians might have resented the sellers, and the different viewpoints Pa and Mr Scott etc have on the Indians.
jena_33's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
hopeful
informative
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
belwood303's review against another edition
4.0
A serious classic.
Whereas, Little House in the Big Woods was very nostalgic, it's paradise lost to a 60 year old woman looking back on her life before she was six; I feel this novel about her parents attempt to settle in Indian Territory truly the most interesting thing that ever happened to her. And the story is really well written.
I just want to get to know her mother, honestly what a woman. And then her dad, progressive in so many ways, but then he just moves his family around like that. Rich discussions to be had and a really interesting political view of Native Americans.
Whereas, Little House in the Big Woods was very nostalgic, it's paradise lost to a 60 year old woman looking back on her life before she was six; I feel this novel about her parents attempt to settle in Indian Territory truly the most interesting thing that ever happened to her. And the story is really well written.
I just want to get to know her mother, honestly what a woman. And then her dad, progressive in so many ways, but then he just moves his family around like that. Rich discussions to be had and a really interesting political view of Native Americans.
cora_steffani's review against another edition
3.0
It's a nice,little book that I enjoyed reading,I only wish I had read the whole series as a kid, I think some books are meant to be read when you are a kid,you wouldn't enjoy the same as an adult.
hazelsnoot's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
The racism in this book was way more explicit than I remembered when I read this as a child. Least favorite of the series so far. Looking forward to the next one, have good memories of Plum Creek.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Genocide, Racial slurs, Racism, Xenophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, and Deportation
elspor94's review against another edition
adventurous
informative
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
mattie's review against another edition
I ADORED this series as a kid: like, I probably read the entire series dozens of times. It was my comfort reading. I spent a lot of my childhood wandering around on my own having a grand time pretending I was Laura Ingalls Wilder having adventures on the prairie.
So when I unearthed a copy of this in an old box of my books, I was looking forward to introducing it to my own kids — but I knew going into it that it was *not* going to stand up well now that I know about wild complex things (/sarcasm) like racism and manifest destiny. And hoo boy.
Predictably, my daydreamy 5-year-old, who enjoys wandering around pretending she’s Elsa or Harry Potter, adored it. Even the bits where you’re just reading a whole chapter of Laura watching Pa build a door. Unclear whether she adored my clumsy pauses to try to discuss why it might not be great to think of indigenous people as strange and scary savages whose land is up for the taking. “Othering” may be a bit much for a kindergarten topic. But I tried. …and also just skipped over some parts that were particularly offensive or complicated to explain. (I also went down some very cool Wikipedia rabbit holes on the Osage Nation, all kinds of stuff I would’ve LOVED to know about as a kid. Besides all the actual human atrocities and cultural genocide wrought by colonialism, it also just leaves our view of the world, of history, so much less rich and interesting.) (Boy that sounded pompous, but ykwim.)
I’m going to introduce the aforementioned 5yo to The Birchbark House, which I’ve heard is an excellent complement, bless Louise Erdrich. But it sounds like I’ll have to do a little editing there, too, if I don’t want to be on the 2am nightmare brigade.
Definitely seeking recommendations of other chapter books on the Native experience — we’ve read some picture books, but it’d be even better if she could be whisked away in the same kind of engrossing long form storytelling that always made this series so special.
So when I unearthed a copy of this in an old box of my books, I was looking forward to introducing it to my own kids — but I knew going into it that it was *not* going to stand up well now that I know about wild complex things (/sarcasm) like racism and manifest destiny. And hoo boy.
Predictably, my daydreamy 5-year-old, who enjoys wandering around pretending she’s Elsa or Harry Potter, adored it. Even the bits where you’re just reading a whole chapter of Laura watching Pa build a door. Unclear whether she adored my clumsy pauses to try to discuss why it might not be great to think of indigenous people as strange and scary savages whose land is up for the taking. “Othering” may be a bit much for a kindergarten topic. But I tried. …and also just skipped over some parts that were particularly offensive or complicated to explain. (I also went down some very cool Wikipedia rabbit holes on the Osage Nation, all kinds of stuff I would’ve LOVED to know about as a kid. Besides all the actual human atrocities and cultural genocide wrought by colonialism, it also just leaves our view of the world, of history, so much less rich and interesting.) (Boy that sounded pompous, but ykwim.)
I’m going to introduce the aforementioned 5yo to The Birchbark House, which I’ve heard is an excellent complement, bless Louise Erdrich. But it sounds like I’ll have to do a little editing there, too, if I don’t want to be on the 2am nightmare brigade.
Definitely seeking recommendations of other chapter books on the Native experience — we’ve read some picture books, but it’d be even better if she could be whisked away in the same kind of engrossing long form storytelling that always made this series so special.
hjswinford's review against another edition
4.0
The best book in the series so far. I dreamed of travelling in a covered wagon when I was a kid (though I know now it must have been utterly miserable), and setting out to settle on the prairie somewhere sounds so nice. Of course, in this book, it isn't all nice. Laura spends quite a lot of time frightened in this book. Knowing what we know now, having retrospect, it's easy to see the problems of the European settlers taking the West for themselves. But this little story gives a very narrow view, one little girl's perspective. All of the problematic choices of the government aside, you can see the humanity of Pa and the Ingalls family, you can see how things might have been for a family just trying to make their lives. Pa sets down ideas about the land belonging to the Native Americans and the kindness and goodness of some of the people they met that might have been very "progressive" for the time it was written. (I don't know that for sure, but it's a better outlook for the characters to have than what I expected.) Pa even goes directly against another character in the book who says, "The only good Indian is a dead Indian." The fact that we get to see Laura forming her thoughts and opinions about the way the world works with this set of beliefs and circumstances is incredibly interesting. The writing is obviously quite simple, since the book is written for children, but there is a lot to consider about Laura forming her identity as she watches her parents navigate this tricky, dangerous world.
emking12's review against another edition
informative
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
4.0