(Her sister Kari, for example, reveals that Little House on the Prairie is her daughters’ favorite television program.) While trying to learn more about a quilt believed to have been owned by the author, and solving a murder or two, Chloe is forced to confront the differing perspectives and opinions within the Laura community.
In Death on the Prairie, Chloe-who’s not me, but is a lot like me-tours the homesites. If the television programs provoke viewers to learn more, to read Laura’s books, to read Laura historians’ books, to visit the sites-that’s a wonderful thing.Īnd as a mystery author, the complexities of studying and celebrating Laura Ingalls Wilder’s literary legacy provided rich material to explore. Freeman Tilden, author of the classic Interpreting Our Heritage, wrote that “the chief aim is not instruction, but provocation.” But I remember studying the principles of effective heritage interpretation in college. I might wish that the television series had not wandered quite so far from the original material.
The Ingalls family briefly lived and worked in this building. Only recently, when working on my new Chloe Ellefson mystery Death on the Prairie, did I discover how strongly some book enthusiasts dislike the series.Ī docent at one of the Wilder homesites told me she’d had to break up an argument between “book people” and “TV people.” Another, at a different homesite, told me that she’d had children break into tears when they discovered that in real life, Mary Ingalls (Laura’s older sister, who lost her sight as a child) never married. Sure, some liberties were taken-starting with the fact that Laura’s book Little House on the Prairie is set in Kansas, and the television series is set in Walnut Grove, MN (the real setting for the book On The Banks of Plum Creek.) Michael Landon did not look like Charles Ingalls (and once, I’ve read, stated that nothing would induce him to wear an “ugly” beard.) But all in all, the programs I remember from the mid-70s captured the spirit of the books.
I remember watching the first few seasons with my younger sister, and we enjoyed them. – Michael Landon with his three TV daughters.
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