For the past two weeks, our evening storytime has taken a departure from the usual picture books and headed deep into the Big Woods — Little House in the Big Woods, to be exact. The first in Laura Ingalls Wilder’s famous “Little House” series.
It’s the first real “chapter book” I’ve read out loud to the kids, and they are for the most part following along very well. I felt that we were going out on a limb with it; the Little House books have been unfortunately marginalized as “girl books,” and I’ll admit that the first chapter, with its long descriptions of smoking meat and making butter, made both Jeffrey and Eleanor a bit restless.
BUT — then comes the moment when Pa picks up his gun. And goes hunting for BEARS. And THEN he comes home and cleans the gun and makes BULLETS in the FIREPLACE. Can’t get more boy-appeal-oriented than that.
There’s also the great moments when Ma slaps a bear, Pa hacks apart a tree full of bees, various characters are chased by panthers, and many, many meals in which everybody has either maple candy or honey and not much else.
Ah, the 19th century! Motto: “Teetha Rottenum Est.”
The secret motive, of course, is that I wanted to get Jeffrey ready for the Intermountain Living History Conference that we attended last week at This is the Place Heritage Park (aka “the Pioneer Village”)– a conference for people interested in historical reenactment. They had inexpensive children’s classes taught concurrently with the adults’ workshops, so while I was off learning about tinsmithing or millenery, Jeffrey got to learn how to wash with a washboard, write with a quill, and how to take a bow like a gentleman. He enjoyed the classes and bowed all the way home, carefully holding his feather quill in one hand. (His “pioneer schoolteacher” later told me that, when she was encouraging all the kids to write in cursive with their quills, Jeffrey huffed, rolled his eyes, and said “Geez, I’m only in kindergarten!”)
Did reading the book help? Well, his first class was held in the Gardiner cabin, a little log house decorated with all the accoutrements of 19th century frontier life. As Jeffrey waited on a bench with the other kids for the class to begin, he looked all around him, wide-eyed.
“Mom!” he cried. “This is just like the Little House in the Big Woods!”
I smiled at the cuteness, but his period-dress-clad teacher was simply touched.
“Why, yes,” she cried, choking up a bit. “You’re absolutely right!”
Casa Camisas 
The “Little House” books were the first chapter books I read to my children, too! And my son LOVED them.
Aw…! I adored those books. I think I got them for Christmas when I was in first grade, and I’d read through all of them by the time school started up again in January. My dad threatened to give me War and Peace the following year (and has never followed up on his threat, darn it).
Paige was one of those period-dress guides at the park when she was in high school. She did some research and found a pioneer ancestor whose name she liked, and acted that character the whole time. She LOVED it.
This conference sounds awesome! Do they do this periodically . . . only annually?
About the books, they really are incredible! I remember we started them about a year and a half ago, and when the first snow of winter came, my kids started talking about sugar snow! They REALLY pick things up . . .
Yummy stuff!