But the writer’s name surfaced in the news earlier this summer when an organization of children’s librarians, educators, and authors addressed reader concerns about Wilder’s depictions of Native and black characters, particularly in the third novel, Little House on the Prairie. The past few years have seen the release of an annotated version of Wilder’s memoir, a new book of the author’s letters, and a Pulitzer Prize–winning biography. Though Wilder and her Little House series have been immensely popular with generations of American readers, only in recent decades has her work received serious critical attention from scholars. The first book, Little House in the Big Woods, was published in 1932 when the author was 65 years old. At first, publishers passed it over, so Wilder reworked her story into a series. It took several years before she heeded her daughter’s advice and began recording her childhood experiences in a manuscript titled Pioneer Girl. At the time, Wilder was living in Missouri and writing columns for a regional farm magazine. Just over a century ago, Rose Wilder Lane wrote to her mother, Laura Ingalls Wilder, and suggested that she write about her memories growing up on the American frontier.
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