If Pioneer Girl had been published..... -- Our Laura Ingalls Wilder Forum

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Date Posted: 18:20:00 02/18/03 Tue
Author: Shell
Subject: If Pioneer Girl had been published.....

I was reading The Horn Book's Laura Ingalls Wilder earlier and it had mentioned how Laura's memories had originally been written as a single book and good thing it wasn't. I was wondering, if only the book had been written and not the series would any of us been as interested in Laura and her life. I don't know if I would have even known who she was. I think that as a single book it wouldn't have been popular and nowadays only people interested in history would been reading it. I enjoyed the series as a kid and a few years ago bought a set for myself. It was then that I got interested in finding out more about her real life. I did splurge and get Pioneer Girl a year ago because I wanted to see what the original manuscript was like,. While I enjoyed it (I think because I read the series)I thing that if that had been the only book I may have read it but wouldn't have been too interested in finding out more about Laura. Also, since then I've been more intersted in finding more about pioneers and their lives.Your thoughts?

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[> Re: If Pioneer Girl had been published..... -- Ann, 11:16:30 02/19/03 Wed

I don't think Pioneer Girl would have been enough to generate the interest that the LHOP books did. PB was written more as straight non-fiction, and didn't really bring to life the Ingalls family the way the LHOP books did. Caring about the people in the books is what made them so popular and made people want to know more about Laura, I think.
I imagine starting off with just what she wrote in LHITBW helped Laura focus on a smaller picture and be able to remember and include more details. Trying to write her entire childhood history in one fell swoop in PG was too broad. I *think* at first LHITBW was going to be the only book, but when it was so successful, the publishers asked for more. And, of course, Laura essentially had her "outline" for several more books with what she'd already done in PG.

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[> Re: If Pioneer Girl had been published..... -- Jennifer, 09:53:47 02/20/03 Thu

I agree - and I think you have hit the nail on the head, Shell, that PG would be a book historians would read or those interesting in pioneer days.

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[> [> Re: If Pioneer Girl had been published..... -- Cindy C, 11:37:29 02/23/03 Sun

Yes, I believe it would have been just another book by another unknown author. I am glad it turned out the way it did.

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