Laura : The Life of Laura Ingalls Wilder

Rating:
Summary: Lots of detail, very informative!
Review: Having also read William Anderson's "Laura Ingalls Wilder - a Biography," this story is much more detailed. It also includes information about Charles and Caroline's families before they were married, even before they were born! You'd be surprised at how many things in Laura's books didn't happen exactly that way in real life, i.e., the events of "Little House on the Prairie" actually happened BEFORE the events described in "Little House in the Big Woods," and their time living near Lake City, Minnesota and Burr Oak, Iowa are not mentioned in Laura's books. It's also interesting to note that they lived in both Walnut Grove, Minnesota and the Big Woods of Wisconsin TWICE! Walnut Grove is where "On the Banks of Plum Creek" took place, even though that name is never mentioned in the book, and the TV series also was supposed to be in Walnut Grove, although it was really filmed in California. Also, the Olesons and Brewsters actually were not the real names of the rich family in Walnut Grove or the quarrelsome people Laura lived with during her first teaching job. Great reading if you always wanted to know more about Laura.

Rating:
Summary: Lots of detail, very informative!
Review: Having also read William Anderson's "Laura Ingalls Wilder - a Biography," this story is much more detailed. It also includes information about Charles and Caroline's families before they were married, even before they were born! You'd be surprised at how many things in Laura's books didn't happen exactly that way in real life, i.e., the events of "Little House on the Prairie" actually happened BEFORE the events described in "Little House in the Big Woods," and their time living near Lake City, Minnesota and Burr Oak, Iowa are not mentioned in Laura's books. It's also interesting to note that they lived in both Walnut Grove, Minnesota and the Big Woods of Wisconsin TWICE! Walnut Grove is where "On the Banks of Plum Creek" took place, even though that name is never mentioned in the book, and the TV series also was supposed to be in Walnut Grove, although it was really filmed in California. Also, the Olesons and Brewsters actually were not the real names of the rich family in Walnut Grove or the quarrelsome people Laura lived with during her first teaching job. Great reading if you always wanted to know more about Laura.

Rating:
Summary: A poetic and lovely view of the Ingalls Family
Review: I first read this book as a young girl and my copy is now dog-eared. This was my first look at Laura's life outside of her Little House books and it made me love her and her family even more. Zochert is obviously a Laura devotee and sometimes paints a prettier picture than really existed. He says that Laura often left out stories of "shadow" in favor of "sunshine" in her boooks, and Zochert has done the same thing. He does not delve at all into the relationships of the Ingalls women with one another at all, nor would the reader have any idea that Laura spent most of her life at a subsistence level. There is also no sign of the strained, difficult relationship Laura had with her only child, Rose Wilder Lane. Zochert sticks with data and spins it together in really beautiful ways. At times, his biography reads more like a novel, as he assigns words and thoughts to people that did not originate from them. All in all, Zochert's book is a lovely read and if you are a Laura fan this will just fan the flames of devotion.

Rating:
Summary: Beyond the "Little House" Books, how it really was!
Review: I highly recommend this book for anyone that is interested in how it really was for LIW. Not that any of what you read in her books is fiction, oh no, Laura didn't write fiction, but there are many events and places that are left out of her books, or that she rearranged a little bit. Perhaps on purpose, perhaps on accident. Donald Zochert researched a lot of details by looking in libraries, newspapers, talking to people. He lists years things happen. He uses bright, colorful words, when I read this book, I can actually see Laura and her family trailing across the prairie. This book tells what happens after the books end, and interesting little known facts! I read this many years ago, and am pleased to have just recently purchased a copy. This book is a must for any true LIW fan! The pictures in the middle are a little faint; I have seen better copies of the same photos in different books, but the way the author tells us the way it 'really was' makes up for that fact!

Rating:
Summary: One of the first Biographies of an amazing author
Review: I was interested to read through several of the reviews of this book. This was the first biography of Laura Wilder that I'd read (other than Anderson's booklet "The Story of the Ingalls") and I was fascinated to learn all the little details that Donald Zochert had found. As I understand it, he took a lot of his stories straight from Laura's unpublished first manuscript, Pioneer Girl, which makes it doubly interesting. Although the book has several inaccuracies, it was the first biography done on LIW, and has several bits of information that aren't easily found elsewhere. It's a must read for Laura fans, IMO (although I could do without the cheesy cover art, especially the ridiculous pictures on the back cover!). It's very enjoyable and easy to read. It fits in nicely between the geared for children "Laura Ingalls Wilder" by Anderson, and the more scholarly "Becoming Laura Ingalls Wilder" by Miller (both also excellent reads).

Rating:
Summary: Detailed information on Laura
Review: So you plowed through the Little House anthology and want more? This is a very well-written overview of what really happened to Laura Ingalls Wilder, most of it pretty depressing.

I enjoyed learning more about her, and it would make a great read for a young teenager.

Rating:
Summary: Laura: The Live of Laura Ingalls Wilder
Review: This book is truly a must have for any little house on the prairie fan it is a great book I haven't finished reading it but I am enjoying every minute of it would highly recommend anybody who wants to know more about Laura Ingalls Wilder and the rest of the Ingalls to buy this book it is a must have...

Rating:
Summary: Detailed information on Laura
Review: This is the first biography of Laura. It was published in 1976, less than a decade after Rose's death. Although there are other biographies of Laura, they usually only focus on a specific time in her life, or are for children. This is in my opinion is the best and most complete biography of Laura. I first read this book when I was ten, and I read it again when I was fourteen. Although I had read other books about Laura before this, it was not until I read this one that I completely understood Laura's life. This book is just as entertaining as fiction. This is an excellant account of Laura's life overall, but my favorite part of the book is the chapter on the time the Ingalls family spent in Burr Oak when Laura was nine. This chapter contains the best writing in the whole book. Also, it brings one of the lesser known parts of Laura's childhood to life. I think it is the best description of Laura's time in Burr Oak. Certainly, it is much better than Old town in the green groves which although an excellant idea, was written by somebody who has never even visited Burr Oak! This chapter really brings to life Laura's time in Burr Oak. This book is defintely the first book anyone should read about Laura. It focuses on the years covered by the Little House books more than on her later years. This is fine, however, because the years of Laura's childhood were the most interesting of her life. This book does an evocative job of describing Laura's life. It brings the facts behind the Little House books to life. This book does not tell too much about the years after Laura's marriage, or her relationship with her daughter Rose. This is not as easy to read as William Anderson's
biography of Laura, but it is worth it. This is one of the best books you will ever read. It brings Laura and every place she ever lived to life. I am Laura's eighth cousin and I was a tour guide in Burr Oak two summers.

Rating:
Summary: informative, but poorly written
Review: While it is true that this book reads like a novel, it is also true that it reads like one of the most poorly written novels I have ever forced myself to read. I say "forced myself" because the facts it contains on the Ingalls family are very interesting for someone who grew up on the books and television series. If you want to know about their real lives, this book provides that knowledge, in a round about way. If you can get past the cheesy 70's cover (complete with Laura in a low cut shirt gazing over her shoulder at a strapping, dimpled-chin version of Almanzo on the back), survive the writer's eternal conflict over whether he's writing a Harlequin romance novel or a pioneer biography, and wade through the repetitive use of the same gooey, sentimental phrases (I thought at one point that if he likened the rolling of the wagon to a lullaby one more time I was going to have to throw the book across the room), then this is the biography for you. The only good thing I can say without reservation is that it has great pictures. They are the only reason I didn't toss it when I was finally done.