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On the Web Wed Aug 05 2009
Wendy's Love of Laura
Book Club selection author (and FoBC) Wendy McClure (I'm Not the New Me) has been travelling throughout the Midwest for work on a new book about Laura Ingalls Wilder and her childhood obsession with the Little House books. Salon wonders how our culture became obsessed with Wilder's stories yet remained almost ignorant of her ambitious daughter Rose Wilder Lane. (As someone who read all the Little House books as a kid, I must admit I know nothing of Laura's daughter either.) Wendy tells Salon:
The popular conception of Laura is that she was a naturally talented late bloomer with pure intentions to simply write down her memories -- the kind of writer a lot of people think they want to be (or even think women should be). Rose, though, is the 'other' kind of writer -- ambitious, constantly concerned with money and career stuff, often ghostwriting or cranking out stuff that she wasn't proud of, so there's a pervasive belief that she was just too hard-edged to have had anything to do with the Little House books. But she did.
On her site, Wendy invites all to share their memories and experiences of Laura Ingalls Wilder with her, from the books, the actual homes and even the TV show. And if you've never seen any of Laura's homes, check out Wendy's flickr stream of her enviable research excursions.
