Piccola casa nel bosco grande (1932)

I’m not sure why I expected this to be adventure comedy, except LT says it’s ‘like Narnia’, you know; but it’s observational comedy, for better or for worse. I guess that’s the ‘magic’ of gender. We’re going to go on the sort of adventure which is proper for a girl! 👧 🤪

I’m not quite Woake McWhitey myself, but I do find the settlers to be charming or whatever. I guess Laura doesn’t let you see—the ‘Kinder’ (children) must not know!—what happened when the settlers dispossessed the natives, you know. In fact, I think that there were “no people” in America before the, ah, Americans, showed up. How lucky!

But it’s not as though something’s changed, you know; life’s still bogus for Native peoples. Although, no, things have changed—we have “Santa’s Christmas Empire”, apparently, not so much the, ‘play with an ear of corn’, thing. And we have the whole Corn-meat Corp. thing; the family farm (and it wasn’t even a machine! There were children and animals and such!) has basically disappeared (except for the murals on supermarket walls, lol…. They just need to give the cows wings, for added realism), as have other things like seasonal eating, and —cliche alert!— being close to “nature”, you know. Nowadays we think that nature is something to…. I know that kids might be reading this, right, and I don’t want the Fox fascies to get upset, but it rhymes with ‘ape’—we think nature is an ape that we have to kill or at least starve, so we, so we…. Rhymes with ape…. Nature….

I mean, you can worship the gates of the god of greed (Santa’s Christmas Empire!) and torch whatever gets in your way, but don’t tell the children about Bad Things, right! Or DO! Do do that, so I can troll about over it, and get upset!

But, like I said, there certainly was pain on the family farm in the old days, plenty of ordinary, work-a-day pain, but…. Mostly what we’ve lost is a closeness to simplicity, you know…. It hasn’t gotten any easier for the Kickapoo or the Chippewa, you know. Although if anything we actually exaggerate that—yeah I think they’re in the fairy-land now; we really ground them down to nothing…. Oklahoma? No, they’re not in Oklahoma…. I mean, it’s a red state, but it’s not a RED state, you know….

But certainly in that sorta soft generic Beth March w/a side of the Electra complex, right…. I mean, I like Beth March, but obviously plenty of girls are superficially like her….

But, I don’t know; it’s ok. “Father shoots deer but in the winter they get scruffy and weak because they’re almost dead; and Mother! Why! She falls asleep!”

…. “Naked colorism is the way of the settler, children. It’s the Norwegian’s job to drive you off the land, Brown Is Her Hair, and it’s your job to…. Well, I mean, you can’t ‘take it like a man’, you know. You really can’t!

But stifle yourself!”

This was AMAZING! Such a classic, and the vibe it gave was just... ( )

"A year in the life of two young girls growing up on the Wisconsin frontier, as they help their mother with the daily chores, enjoy their father's stories and singing, and share special occasions when they get together with relatives or neighbors."

Classic literature. American history ( )

Ma said that Jack Frost came in the night and made the pictures, while everyone was asleep. Laura thought that Jack Frost was a little man all snowy white, wearing a glittering white pointed cap and soft white knee-boots made of deer-skin. His coat was white and his mittens were white, and he did not carry a gun on his back, but in his hands he had shining sharp tools with which he carved the pictures. Laura and Mary were allowed to take Ma’s thimble and make pretty patterns of circles in the frost on the glass. But they never spoiled the pictures that Jack Frost had made in the night.

I enjoyed my reread, although some outdated parts are disturbing. Still, I appreciated the family bonding, Pa playing the fiddle, seasonal preparations, etc. It makes one aware how much skill, time and effort was put into making sure there was adequate food during winter months. I think many of us modern day people wouldn't fare very well in that time period and environment.

I plan to continue on with the series but might delay my reading. Somehow I am not in the mood to read these books when the weather is warm. The chilly winter months seem more appropriate for these books.

Original Publication Date: 1932
Reread Rating: 4 stars ( )