Laura Ingalls Is Ruining My Life
Books | Juvenile Fiction / Family / General
3.4
Shelley Tougas
A life on the prairie is not all its cracked up to be for one girl whose mom takes her love of the Little House series just a bit too far.Charlotte’s mom has just moved the family across the country to live in Walnut Grove, “childhood home of pioneer author Laura Ingalls Wilder.” Mom’s idea is that the spirit of Laura Ingalls will help her write a bestselling book. But Charlotte knows better: Walnut Grove is just another town where Mom can avoid responsibility. And this place is worse than everywhere else the family has lived—it’s freezing in the winter, it’s small with nothing to do, and the people talk about Laura Ingalls all the time. Charlotte’s convinced her family will not be able to make a life on the prairie—until the spirit of Laura Ingalls starts getting to her, too.
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Author
Shelley Tougas
Pages
304
Publisher
Roaring Brook Press
Published Date
2017-10-10
ISBN
1626724180 9781626724181
Community ReviewsSee all
"Okay pre-teen novel about 3 siblings whose daffy New Age mother drags them from pillar to post in search of creative inspiration. When she decides to concoct a novel based on the Little House books, the family ends up in Plum Creek Minnesota, where to her astonishment, elder daughter Charlotte finds herself with real friends for the first time, while her twin brother Fred morphs from bullied outcast into popular boy. Of course it can't last as prairie blizzards, maternal depression and wanderlust (similar to that of Pa Ingalls) and a series of Mayberry -like small town misunderstandings threaten to derail their fragile security. Tougas half-heartedly addresses Ingalls' complicated legacy as the patron saint of white settler colonialism and Indian removal, but shies away from an honest appraisal, perhaps because her source materials were traditional hagiographies. A pity she couldn't have used Caroline Fraser's outstanding [b:Prairie Fires: The American Dreams of Laura Ingalls Wilder|33911349|Prairie Fires The American Dreams of Laura Ingalls Wilder|Caroline Fraser|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1499741011l/33911349._SY75_.jpg|54876814] which came out the same year.<br/><br/>Some good YA drama around sibling relationships but not especially memorable."
Lesley Williams