Subtitled A Chapter-by-Chapter Guide, this book is a curriculum or family reading guide to the eight books in the Little House series by Laura Ingalls Wilder, plus the extra book, The First Four Years. I have a curriculum book called The Prairie Primer by Margie Gray that does much the same thing this book sets out to do, but I like Ms. Whipple’s book even better. This newer guide, published this year (2020), addresses the concerns that many have recently expressed about racism and stereotypes in the Little House books. And Whipple addresses these problems in a gentle way by asking questions about how the settlers and the Native Americans and others would have seen their lives and interactions and how we see these things today. Questions and discussion are so much better than either reading and ignoring the issues completely or alternatively, trashing the books because of the outdated and sometimes unjust opinions expressed.

Examples of discussion questions:

• Laura confronted Ma about her dislike of the American Indians. It took a lot of courage. What would you have said to Ma or a grown-up you know?
• How would you feel if you had to move unexpectedly but didn’t know where you were going to live?
• Ma didn’t like Laura helping Pa with field work. What do you think of Ma’s thoughts on women working in the field? Why did she think like that?
• Why did Mary and Laura enjoy their days at the creek so much?
• Why was the family so happy without presents or candy at Christmas?

The book also includes more than 75 activities, everything from recipes for old-fashioned doughnuts and dried apples to craft instructions to science and nature study experiments and observations. And there is chapter-by-chapter commentary that tells readers some of the inside story and background details that make the novels understandable and give more food for thought. The book guides children to think about living in a sod house or surviving a long winter and what that might be like without telling them what to think or feel.

The Prairie Primer is no longer in print, and used copies are quite expensive. As I said, I like this book better anyway, although it’s not quite as long as Prairie Primer. It’s also not as expensive, and it would be more than adequate for a family study of the Little House books. Read more about the book at Ms. Whipple’s website, www.WilderCompanion.com.