reading (Little House in the Big Woods)
Jul. 15th, 2007 03:04 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
eorI finished "Little House in the Big Woods" on Tuesday, I think. When I last read it I was a wee little tot.
Even when I read it as a child the book struck me as a bit sweet and over nice. I'm sure this is intentional and it was probably as badly needed when I was a kid as it is now, although from my perspective it's more needed now. Some where between the pure white of these books and the muddiness of reality there is a good balance.
I was surprised who instructional this book was. It doesn't give every detail, but it tells the overall procedure for a lot of basic things. Some of the details that are included strike me as knowledge that stands a great chance of being lost in 100 years. For example, the sugar maples are now tapped with metal, not hand carved wooden pegs. Who will remember what wood to use to avoid imparting a bad flavor into the syrup.
I enjoyed the consistent building of each character. The moral lessons imparted through their behavior is consistent with the characters and woven with their flaws. It's nice to see a book were the lessons aren't tacked on the outside of the story with a couple of nails.
I wonder how many of today's children can relate to this series. I grew up on a small farm 100 years after the time of the books, we didn't do all the things described in the book, but we did quite a few of them. Much of what I was reading were things my family did or variations on things my family did. That drew me into the books. Do the books hold kids today?
46. Laura Ingalls Wilder "Little House in the Big Woods"
Even when I read it as a child the book struck me as a bit sweet and over nice. I'm sure this is intentional and it was probably as badly needed when I was a kid as it is now, although from my perspective it's more needed now. Some where between the pure white of these books and the muddiness of reality there is a good balance.
I was surprised who instructional this book was. It doesn't give every detail, but it tells the overall procedure for a lot of basic things. Some of the details that are included strike me as knowledge that stands a great chance of being lost in 100 years. For example, the sugar maples are now tapped with metal, not hand carved wooden pegs. Who will remember what wood to use to avoid imparting a bad flavor into the syrup.
I enjoyed the consistent building of each character. The moral lessons imparted through their behavior is consistent with the characters and woven with their flaws. It's nice to see a book were the lessons aren't tacked on the outside of the story with a couple of nails.
I wonder how many of today's children can relate to this series. I grew up on a small farm 100 years after the time of the books, we didn't do all the things described in the book, but we did quite a few of them. Much of what I was reading were things my family did or variations on things my family did. That drew me into the books. Do the books hold kids today?
46. Laura Ingalls Wilder "Little House in the Big Woods"
