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Laura Ingalls Wilder's "Little House On The Prairie" series inspires utter devotion in loyal fans who gather in this moderately busy mailing list. Partially a return to childhood enjoyment of the books, and partially a source of bonding with their own children, these folks are eager to discuss any mention of Wilder and share information about her life with each other. Wilder's books and other writings are the main topic of discussion, as well as the writing career of her daughter, Rose Wilder Lane. A number of the participants have been to the various Laura Ingalls Wilder historical sites to see the places she describes in the Little House books. One of the main attractions of the list is the discussion of recipes and housekeeping technologies among pioneers during the Little House period of the late 1800s. Recent topics included churning butter and sprinkling clothes with water to get them ready for ironing. For some, this is compelling beyond interest in the historical information -- some of the readers are attempting to recreate the experience with their kids. (Apparently this is widespread among Laura Ingalls Wilder devotees. A whole cookbook of recipes from the Little House books was written to help kids get a better sense of how things were done then.) Another conversation batted about various bloopers, inaccuracies and things that didn't seem quite right in books written about Wilder. This group also meets for chats on IRC and in other web-based chat rooms - information about those chats is available on the Little House on the Prairie Homepage. - E.L.

subject matter: literature, history

regional affiliation: global

format: mailing list, chat

language: English

cost: no cost