James Baquet

    Born the same year as Madame Curie and two years before French painter Henri Matisse, the American author Laura Ingalls Wilder (1867-1957) is best known for her “Little House” series of books. These include “Little House in the Big Woods” and the most famous, “Little House on the Prairie,” which inspired a long-running TV series.

    The books are a fictionalized account of Laura Ingalls’ childhood on the American frontier in the 1860s and 70s. Her father Charles was a farmer, and later took other jobs, including work as a butcher and on the railroad. They finally established a homestead in South Dakota in 1880 where — at age 16 — Laura became a school teacher. Here she also met Almanzo Wilder, whom she would marry in 1885.

    The young couple continued to move — as had her parents — partly because of Almanzo’s health and partly for financial reasons. They finally settled in Missouri in 1894, where after years of hardship they became prosperous farmers.

    It was here, in 1911, that Laura submitted her first newspaper article, which led to a position as a columnist and editor. Then, around 1924, her daughter Rose Wilder Lane began encouraging her to reach a wider audience by writing the “Little House” and other books. Rose was already an author and editor in her own right, and in the late 1920s was considered one of the highest-paid American woman writers.

    Although the books became very popular, there is some question as to how much of the material in the “Little House” books was originally written by Ms Wilder, and how much resulted from “polishing” by Rose.

    In any case, after the stock market crash of 1929, the income from Laura’s books was important for the Wilders and for Rose, who was by then divorced. Since the first book was published in 1932, the eight original “Little House” books have never gone out of print. They have been translated into 40 languages.

    Rose Ingalls Wilder died three days after her 90th birthday. Her daughter Rose Wilder Lane died 11 years later, and was buried beside her parents.

    Vocabulary

    Which word above means:

    1. difficulty, struggle

    2. improving, cleaning up

    3. person who kills animals and sells their meat

    4. house and land given by the government after the owner complies with some conditions

    5. people who read (or listen to or watch) something

    6. made into a story that is not completely true

    7. financially comfortable

    8. person who writes a regular feature for a newspaper