So you’ve read the Little House books. Now comes that insatiable question: “What happened next?” You want to go beyond the Little House books to learn more, but how to go about it? We have answers. No matter what you’d like to find out or want to do, this page was created to help you.
Here are the best ways we know to learn more:
By Visiting Homesites
Both Almanzo and Laura Ingalls Wilder lived in numerous places, and most of these homes are now historic sites. Any Wilder reader can step back in time for a day and visit the world of Little House. It’s one of the best ways we know to make the books come alive. Each homesite has its own website.
Pepin, Wisconsin — setting for Little House in the Big Woods
Independence, Kansas (Wayside, KS) — setting for Little House on the Prairie
Walnut Grove, Minnesota — setting for On the Banks of Plum Creek
Burr Oak, Iowa — The Ingalls family’s home between On the Banks of Plum Creek and By the Shores of Silver Lake, left out of the series.
De Smet, South Dakota — setting for most of By The Shores of Silver Lake and the final four Little House books, including the posthumously published The First Four Years
Mansfield, Missouri — final home of Almanzo and Laura, where they lived for over 50 years
Malone, New York (Burke, NY) — setting for Farmer Boy
Spring Valley, Minnesota — home of Almanzo Wilder during his teen years; Almanzo, Laura, and Rose lived here with the Wilder family in 1890-91.
If you’re interested in a guided tour, Barb Hawkins of Michigan has operated Little House Site Tours since 1999. Each summer Barb leads both passenger van tours and caravan tours to all of the homesites, including Malone.
By Subscribing to Newsletters
Many of the homesites publish their own newsletters, most of which can be purchased in conjunction with a membership to the museum. The Laura Ingalls Wilder Memorial Society in De Smet, for example, has long published the Laura Ingalls Wilder Lore, edited by LIW biographer William Anderson; the Society in Mansfield publishes the Rocky Ridge Review; and the Almanzo Wilder Farm in Malone publishes Farmer Boy News. Visit the homesite web sites listed in the section above to learn about each homesite’s newsletter offering.
By Exploring Websites
The Internet is full of Laura Ingalls Wilder information, and sorting through endless websites to separate fact from fiction can be overwhelming. To help you, we’ve designed a topic-based index to help weed out erroneous or duplicate information and help guide your online Laura Ingalls Wilder journey. We call it Laura Ingalls Wilder, A-Z.
By Reading Books
Many books, from juvenile biographies to scholarly studies, have been published on the topic of Laura Ingalls Wilder. Coming soon is a list of books currently in publication that can help you in your quest for more information about Laura.
By Joining Online Discussions
Looking to connect with other Laura fans to discuss all things Little House? Yahoo! features two online groups dedicated to Little House discussion, the Laura Ingalls Wilder Literary Society and Laura Ingalls Wilder/Rose Wilder Lane Dispatch. Also, Laura Ingalls Wilder, Frontier Girl features a message board.
By Attending Presentations
People all over the country visit schools and libraries to deliver presentations on Laura Ingalls Wilder. A list of these presenters is coming soon. (If you are a presenter and would like to be listed here, please email info@liwlra.org with Presenter in the subject line.)
By Visiting Archives
If you’re serious about conducting your own primary Wilder-related research, we can point you to the best places to visit. More information coming soon.
By Playing Laura
The “Little House” books often inspire readers to try out the pioneer life, even if just for a day, or even a few minutes. Preparing foods like Ma did, stitching on samplers or quilts, or even making a button string — check back as we add to this section on how you can “play Laura” right at home.
– Make sourdough bread (By the Shores of Silver Lake, Chapter 21)
– Make a Nine-Patch Quilt (Little House in the Big Woods, Ch. 5; Little House on the Prairie, Ch. 9, 19; On the Banks of Plum Creek, Ch. 36)
Comments5
I am a Presenter and would like to be listed as such. The title of my presentations is “From Pepin to Mansfield andIn Between”. I have been doing presentations for over 20 years. My presentations include story telling, information about life in a log cabin and travel by covered wagon and seventy feet of display which includes printed material, pictures and artifacts.
Laura Ingalls Wilder, the story behind the stories,
is the title of my presentation. I perform all over Northern Ohio, and occasionally in North Carolina.
Program includes storytelling from the books, atifacts representing items in the stories, and photographs of the real people behind the book characters, and all the home sites.
My goal is to bring the stories to life for people who have read the books, loved them and wondererd , “what happened next?”
My daughter was supposed to see you on May 18th at your Bluffton Ohio performance, but we will be out of town that day and she will miss it. Are you performing anywhere in Ohio in the near future? Best wishes, MK
I hope this is the correct page for a blog: As a cousin of LIW, which I am very proud of. To get to know me better from the FB , please excuse my typing since i have a finger injuries so it is hard to type. I was born in small town in Ill, ma rried a hometown boy 2nd time around. I have 3 daug’s 1 son, 7 gr. children with # on the way. At home I am always reseacrhing on LIW and all sides of her family. I love talking to my school children about LIW, but we do discuss other family members, why they moved to iowa or fla, why did teh babies die young like baby Freddie, Laura loving family, hardships of life. New item I have added is the food they ate, the nutrietioal facts of the food how it helped their bodies even tho they didn’t know about such things in her day, what it provides the body and how it works in our bodies. The children loved these subjects , I encourage everyone to read LH books, and be taken back to a whole other life. I do cook in a wood burning fireplacewhen we rent a cabin, for those who haven’t it is not easy at all, i have real respect for Carolinr, it takes a real woman to cook this way day in and out. I do it for one week a year, what I found that if the fire was kept going all night , youwould have to start the fire andlet it burn out to the correct heat you needed but first you had to find the correct wood for what you needed for your food, then when the fire is correct temperature then it takes longer to cook than on a modern stove, so a every meal make take you 2 hours to prepare, to to think Caroline did this 3 times a day for how many years. Then to have to all the house work she had, what ever that may be. So I am very proud to come from strong pioneer stock.
I am so sorry that I missed this event! I just read about it in an interview with Sue Francis. Will there be a Laurapalooza 2013?
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