Little House on the Prairie

Laura Ingalls Wilder didn’t write the Little House books until the 1930s, when she was in her sixties. Do you think the books would have been received the same way if she’d written them in the late 1800s, when she was in her twenties? What might have been different about readers’ responses? What about differences in how Laura might have written the books?

How would you describe Laura’s relationship with Pa? With Ma? (Use examples from the text as evidence.)

Have parents’ expectations for their children’s behavior changed since the time the book was written? If so, how? (Use examples from the text as evidence of nineteenth-century parenting; general knowledge about modern parenting is sufficient evidence for these purposes.)