Little author in the big woods

Set in war-torn France, it tells the story of a brave boy who helps save a Jewish friend by riding his bicycle and delivering messages to Resistance members.

This narrative biography describes more of the details of the young Laura's real life as a young pioneer homesteading with her family on many adventurous.

Many girls in elementary and middle school fall in love with the Little House books by Laura Ingalls Wilder.

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Little Author in the Big Woods: A Biography of Laura Ingalls Wilder

Gr 2–4—Anyone who has read the "Little House" series (HarperCollins) already knows a lot about its author, because she used her own life as the inspiration for those books. In fact, as readers learn here, when Wilder's autobiography was rejected by potential publishers, she rewrote it as a fictional book for children, thus launching her career as an author. This biography draws parallels between Wilder's life and writing, featuring both the hardships and joys of her experiences as a pioneer in the late s and early s. The narrative is simple and straightforward, and the illustrations are innocent and cozy, calling to mind the original illustrations in the "Little House" books themselves. There is no bibliography, and while there is a list of "Further Reading," there is no explicit indication as to whether the author gathered her resultat from these sources or others. Overall, "Little House" fans will find a lot

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Little Author in the Big Woods: A Biography of Laura Ingalls Wilder

Description

Many girls in elementary and middle school fall in love with the Little House books by Laura Ingalls Wilder. What they don't always realize is that Wilder's books are autobiographical. This narrative biography describes more of the details of the young Laura's real life as a ung pioneer homesteading with her family on many adventurous journeys. This biography, complete with charming illustrations, points out the differences between the fictional series as well as the many similarities. It's a fascinating story of a much-celebrated writer.

Publication date

September 20,

Classification

Non-fiction

Publisher

Henry Holt & Company

Series

Christy Ottaviano Books

BISAC categories

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Little Author in the Big Woods: A Biography of Laura Ingalls Wilder

Yona Zeldis McDonough, illus. by Jennifer Thermes. Holt/Ottaviano, $ (p) ISBN

Fans of the Little House series will welcome this opportunity to immerse themselves in the lives of Laura Ingalls Wilder and her family. McDonough’s (The Doll Shop Downstairs) slender, restrained biography offers answers to readers’ questions about which parts of her fiction are “true,” clarifying the differences between the stories and Wilder’s life. But the book, with few direct quotations from available diaries and letters, lacks Wilder’s voice and has little of the vivid detail and warmth of the fictional stories, reading like a somewhat-flat abridgement. Thermes’s playful, Lois Lenski–like pencil illustrations add welcome spirit and character, evoking Helen Sewell’s original illustrations of Wilder’s books more than Garth Williams’s well-known artwork of the s editions. Other enhancements are McDonough’s thoughtful discussion o