Laura Ingalls Wilder unapproved!!

[IrmaFayLear]

www.theguardian.com/books/2018/jun/24/laura-ingalls-wilders-name-removed-from-book-award-over-racial-concerns

I know the books contain "unenlightened" views, but this book was of the time. If all racist views and comments are deleted from literature/history, then how are people supposed to know they ever existed?

The Ingalls family were pioneers - or settlers if you will. They were afraid - for genuine reasons - of "red Indians". Were the Native Americans in the right? 100%.

I don't want half-witted knee-jerk censorship. Frankly just about everything is going to have to be "unapproved" if we go down this road. The past is another country, not a country that didn't exist.

I adored those books as a child and read them to my dc. We moved a lot and I really identified with Laura,they got me though some tough times. The way Ma always made a home was like my mother.

That said there is racism in the books- Little House on the Prairie, Indians in the House chapter being a case in point- Indians are described as terrible,previous the girls were getting sun burnt and ma complained they looked like Indians. The girls and Ma were terrified of the Indians and Pa tried to make them think about them with an element of respect but still,its racism.I think them being dropped from the award is right but I certainly don't think they deserve to die any more than Enid Blyton. We can learn a lot from them and use them as a teaching tool.

Awesome link, lucydogz!

I have read many if not all of her books - a long time ago of course, maybe i should reread them. I just remember being facinated that they were written by someone who actually lived that life. Laura was often an angry, frustrated, sometimes selfish little girl from what I remember and grew up to be a strong determined young woman. I always thought Pa was a bit of a dreamer who couldn’t settle down in one place - a bit of a liability tbh.