A must read for anyone who loved Little House

Few television programs from my growing up years did I look forward to more than Little House on the Prairie.  The series was so wholesome with family and faith evident in every episode.  The books were read to me by my mother with my sister and I snuggled close by.  I was still enthralled with Laura as an adult graduate student and did a research project on her life.  However, in nothing I read was her faith much of a topic of discussion.

Stephen W. Hines has spent years researching the faith of the author of that series, Laura Ingalls Wilder, after he himself fell in love with the books as a child.  While the Ingalls faith appears evident in the book series, never before has Laura's faith been explored at this depth.  Life on the frontier was a difficult one for Laura and her family.  Without their faith in God, I can only imagine how easy it would to have simply given up.  From crop failures to isolation from others and despair, only their faith gave them the courage to go on.

As mentioned above, I did a full length research project on Laura but there was so much I didn't know or didn't remember such as Rose was a strong willed young lady that challenged Laura and has been hailed as a writer superior to her mother.  One chapter devotes itself to church potluck days of Laura's time and includes over two dozen authentic recipes from the Ingalls De Smet church days.  Also included is an interview with a personal friend of Laura's.

I did receive this book from the publisher and am in no way obligated to write a positive one.  My quandary now is deciding which of my Laura Ingalls Wilder fan friends to pass the book on to.  I just may have to purchase another!