Pioneer Girl: The Story of Laura Ingalls Wilder

Laura Ingalls Wilder has a fascinating life story, full of action, purpose, and suspense. Unfortunately, this biography does not do her justice -- it is pretty blah. But the illustrations. Oh! I love the illustrations. Big, detailed, gorgeous illustrations. So... as far as I'm concerned, we hang onto this book for the illustrations and read the Little House books. Hint: Even boys like the Little House books -- there is plenty of Indian adventure and pioneer work to satisfy them!

This picture book is a compacted synopsis of the life of Laura Ingalls Wilder, from her birth in 1867 to her death in 1957 at age 90. Children who are familiar with some or all of Laura's stories (or the TV show) will delight in hearing of her entire life. I have yet to meet a child who does not delight in Laura's life and stories. Even if a child has read the Little House series of books, there is something new to learn here as her life continued beyond what we know from the Little House series.If a child has never heard of Laura before, I suspect that they may not be very interested in this book because the challenge of cramming a biography covering 90 years of a person's life within the publishing industry standard of a 32 page picture book, has hindered the author's ability to present many captivating stories and interesting details about her life. They may also not "get" the interest in her life (in particular) and perhaps may view this more as a story of "just" a life of a pioneer girl in more of a historical context of hearing what life was like in America back then. There is much to learn about "just" the Pioneer Days aspect of this book, though. (Although my wish is that all children would read and know the wonderful stories contained in the Little House series.) The book doesn't really capture the unique and endearing qualities of Laura's personality and it is not a funny book. The text sometimes seems to rush through her life seeming to mostly focus on why they decided to move to a new place and what they liked there and then repeating the format through her many moves. (Those of us who already know these basics about her life won't see a problem with this, it will then be seen as more of a nice synopsis and summary of her life.)There is a greater amount of text per page than in most picture books; perhaps explaining why the publisher has determined this is for a 9-12 age range. However, the font size is quite large and the language and information is so watered down that a 3 or 4 year old could understand it. What suffers here is the illustrations. The illustrations sometimes are of a more boring scene in the opposing page than could have been chosen. For example one page shows Laura and Mary doing homework at the kitchen table and while that is a part of the opposing pages' text, so is the more dramatic story of a terrible blizzard, which forced the family and other families to live together in the town building. While the people were starving, two boys (one being Almonzo Wilder) risked their lives by braving the storm to get food for everyone, not only surviving themselves but saving the lives of the townspeople. It seems to me that this exciting story would have made a better illustration.As a read aloud, my two boys aged three and five sat quietly to listen to this story, they are familiar with the Little House chapter books and with the reruns of the TV show from the 1970s. They both enjoyed this story, as did I. If you want more

This really is an outstanding and quite beautiful picture book! I never really read the Little House books as a kid. But I'm inclined to now. This IS a great prelude to those books. Incredible illustrations!

Bill Anderson has done a wonderful job of telling the story of Laura Ingalls Wilder that can be read and enjoyed by both children and adults. Dan Andreason's illustrations are absolutely beautiful and complement Anderson's story very well.