So, during the COVID-19 shutdown I had several books I had brought home with me from the library where I work. I also had several in my personal bookshelves that I hadn't read yet. But, as the shutdown was continuing I was concerned about running out of stuff to read. I had gotten the paperback collection of the Little House on the Prairie series and decided with all the uncertainty and stress of COVID it would be a good time to re-read that series. This series and Anne of Green Gables were the two main book series that I LOVED as a child. I was younger when I read the Little House on the Prairie books though. Even though there are 9 books in the series they are children's books and relatively short with illustrations, so I thought I'd fly through the books in a week or two. But, it took me much longer to get through the whole series. I ended up spending the entire month of June on books 3-9. Not that they are hard books, but it just took me longer to get through them. I also started working full time again at the beginning of June and didn't have as much time to read.
As an adult I've read a lot about Laura Ingalls Wilder and how now it's more widely acknowledged now that her daughter likely wrote the series, but still based on Laura's stories and memories from childhood. I've also read that Rose bent the books to her personal Libertarian views and I can see that re-reading the books as an adult. I also knew that in 2018 the American Library Association renamed the Laura Ingalls Wilder book award to the Children's Literature Legacy Award over "racial insensitivity" in her books. So, I had that on my mind as I was re-reading these books as well. Ironically in my opinion, the most racially insensitive part from all the books was in Little Town on the Prairie when there is a scene with men in blackface. That was completely bizarre to me and could have been cut from the book without noticing any change. Throughout the books, especially the earlier ones, there are stereotypes about Native Americans. I personally feel like there is nothing horrific or overly hateful and what was in there was likely toned down from how people felt at the time. Obviously the way white Americans treated Native Americans was terrible and horrific and some of that is slightly highlighted in the book when the Ingalls family has to move because they were illegally squatting/building on Native land assuming the government would push out the Native Americans and didn't. But, as the series is based on Laura's memories I think it reads true for the time. She expresses curiosity and some fear of the Native American people. I think she would feel the same way toward seeing anyone that different from her own culture. I personally don't feel like the books are full of animosity and stereotypes of Native Americans, I think they are a product of their time.
There were a lot of details I didn't remember in the series that stood out to me more now reading them as an adult. The books got a little more mature in topic as they go on and Laura grows up. I didn't remember the suicidal/homicidal woman Laura lived with at the first school where she taught in These Happy Golden Years - that was sadly very likely due to the isolation and hardships the settlers faced. I also didn't remember just how terrible her first few years of marriage were - children dying, plagues, their house burning down, etc. in The First Four Years. Also in The First Four Years Mr. Boast, their long-time family friend, trying to buy Rose because he and his wife couldn't have children. It was also hard to read about how even living in town the family almost starved to death in The Long Winter. All of these issues were real for the time, but as a child I think the seriousness of it goes over your head. As an adult I also thought a lot more about Caroline/Ma and what this was like for her. To the children everything was an adventure, but more than once the family moves away from a house/garden/etc. that they spent years building with little mention of all that work wasted and left behind. That had to be hard to have so little and walk away from it. Reading the series as an adult those kind of things stand out more.
I'm not sure how I feel about the re-naming of the award. While I appreciate that as culture changes we try to reflect that in who is highlighted and celebrated. But, I think Laura Ingalls Wilder can still be celebrated for her stories and books despite the few negative descriptions of Native Americans. In the past few years MANY things have been renamed as we suddenly realize the person who was celebrated was really a pretty terrible person or did terrible things. But, I still feel like there is a fine line between recognizing someone who shouldn't be celebrated and re-writing history. I feel like the Laura Ingalls Wilder books could still be used in school alongside the Birchbark House series by Louise Erdrich (that was written in response to the Little House on the Prairie series to focus on what life would have been like for a Native American child during a similar time period). I think if something is not blatantly racist or hateful it could be used to show how culture and views change over time and how hindsight is 20/20. Overall, I'm glad I re-read the series and it was definitely very different reading it as an adult than when I read them the first time as a child.
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