Laura Ingalls Wilder

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As a girl, I hated both the little house on the prairie books AND the TV show.

Don't really care about the naming of the award, wish they would name it after a foundation or a library or a really good children's librarian rather than an author.

PP if you never really cared or liked the series than this conversation isn't for you. You didn't really add to the conversation,did you? Not saying you can't have opinions but, in this case it has no relevance.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was reading Little House in the Big Woods to my younger daughter last night (I read the entire series to her older sister many years ago) and I skipped over the paragraph in the store where the storekeeper praises Mary for her blond hair and ignores brown haired Laura.

Generally I think the books are good bedtime reading for kids that like them and if patents are careful to point out and discuss the issues being discussed here. But I’m sure there are better options for school reading.

Why on earth would you skip over that part? I knew, even as a young girl, that it was incredibly unfair for the storekeeper (and probably lots of other people) to favor Mary because of her blond hair (I was/am brunette). It made me so sad, but that was the reality! As another PP pointed out, I much preferred Laura anyway. Not only did I have brown hair, like her, but she was spunky and smart and brave. Mary was a goody-two-shoes, prissy, and a tattletale. There is so much to identify with in these books. I can't even believe you would "censor" a part that is completely relatable to girls, even today.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was reading Little House in the Big Woods to my younger daughter last night (I read the entire series to her older sister many years ago) and I skipped over the paragraph in the store where the storekeeper praises Mary for her blond hair and ignores brown haired Laura.

Generally I think the books are good bedtime reading for kids that like them and if patents are careful to point out and discuss the issues being discussed here. But I’m sure there are better options for school reading.

Why would you do that? You are taking things to a new round of silliness.

As a brunette (non white) child, Laura's brown hair was something that made me proud of my brown hair growing up in a sea of blondes or sun spray blondes.

Pa liked brown hair. The brown haired heroine was fiesty, smart, independent and strong.

Blonde haired Mary was vain, week and a goody two shoes. She didn't turn nice until she was struck blind.

I agree too. That passage made me proud of my brown hair. It was one I thought about a lot over my childhood.

Yep.

Laura was the first brown haired heroine ever. All the girls wanted to be Laura because she was so strong and smart.

We brunettes might not have had any Barbie dolls, but we had Laura.

She made me proud to be a brunette.

+100
I begged for, and received, a Laura doll one Christmas. I didn't want Mary - I wanted Laura with her brown braids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:People! All they did was change the name of the award. Nobody is banning the books. Yeesh!

No, they're not banning the books. But the very act of purging her name from the award is incredibly offensive. She wrote what she knew, during her lifetime - not ours.

Ah, so it's YOUR being offended everyone should care about. It's only when other people are offended by something that they're wrong.

What on earth are you babbling about? Maybe the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor, awarded at the Kennedy Center most recently to Julia Louis-Dreyfus, should be changed to a different name. After all, didn't Mark Twain have "racist" phrases in his books? Things that were commonplace for his era, but would never be uttered today? Yes, I think you should lobby the Kennedy Center and MAKE SURE they change the name of this award. It's just so offensive! Also, I think all the previous recipients should have their award revoked. I'm sure they wouldn't feel right about accepting something with the name of a "racist" on it.

https://www.kennedy-center.org/pages/specialevents/marktwain
Previous recipients of the Mark Twain include Richard Pryor (1998), Jonathan Winters (1999), Carl Reiner (2000), Whoopi Goldberg (2001), Bob Newhart (2002), Lily Tomlin (2003), Lorne Michaels (2004), Steve Martin (2005), Neil Simon (2006), Billy Crystal (2007), George Carlin (2008), Bill Cosby (2009, rescinded in 2018) Tina Fey (2010), Will Ferrell (2011), Ellen DeGeneres (2012), Carol Burnett (2013) Jay Leno (2014), Eddie Murphy (2015), Bill Murray (2016), and David Letterman (2017).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As a girl, I hated both the little house on the prairie books AND the TV show.

Don't really care about the naming of the award, wish they would name it after a foundation or a library or a really good children's librarian rather than an author.

Thank you for wasting everyone's time with your completely irrelevant post.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was reading Little House in the Big Woods to my younger daughter last night (I read the entire series to her older sister many years ago) and I skipped over the paragraph in the store where the storekeeper praises Mary for her blond hair and ignores brown haired Laura.

Generally I think the books are good bedtime reading for kids that like them and if patents are careful to point out and discuss the issues being discussed here. But I’m sure there are better options for school reading.

Why would you do that? You are taking things to a new round of silliness.

As a brunette (non white) child, Laura's brown hair was something that made me proud of my brown hair growing up in a sea of blondes or sun spray blondes.

Pa liked brown hair. The brown haired heroine was fiesty, smart, independent and strong.

Blonde haired Mary was vain, week and a goody two shoes. She didn't turn nice until she was struck blind.

I agree too. That passage made me proud of my brown hair. It was one I thought about a lot over my childhood.

Yep.

Laura was the first brown haired heroine ever. All the girls wanted to be Laura because she was so strong and smart.

We brunettes might not have had any Barbie dolls, but we had Laura.

She made me proud to be a brunette.

I agree that looking at the series as a whole brown haired Laura is the strong smart one and blond Mary is not. But at that moment in the first book Laura sees and describes the strong cultural preference for blond girls. My younger daughter has brown hair and is envious of the blond hair of her older sister (I guess like Laura) and at that moment I was reading it I didn't feel like repeating that cultural preference, or discussing it. I just wanted her to fall asleep thinking about what it must have been like to live in a one room house and go to town and into a store for the first time at six-years-old rather than worrying that the world prefers blonds when she has dark brown hair. I wish she didn't envy blond hair and I wish she worried less in general but I just didn't want to take any of that on last night.

Oh, well in that context I can understand why you skipped over it, especially if your daughter is young. When she's older and reads the book herself, maybe she'll relate to the brown-haired Laura and feel proud that she has brown hair too. I know I did, even though I found it hurtful that blond Mary was preferred.

[Anonymous]

This post is the very definition of white fragility.

OMG people I know this is DCUM but get some real problems.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a girl, I hated both the little house on the prairie books AND the TV show.

Don't really care about the naming of the award, wish they would name it after a foundation or a library or a really good children's librarian rather than an author.

PP if you never really cared or liked the series than this conversation isn't for you. You didn't really add to the conversation,did you? Not saying you can't have opinions but, in this case it has no relevance.

So the only person whose opinions count are those who liked the books? Why is that so?

Please explain.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was reading Little House in the Big Woods to my younger daughter last night (I read the entire series to her older sister many years ago) and I skipped over the paragraph in the store where the storekeeper praises Mary for her blond hair and ignores brown haired Laura.

Generally I think the books are good bedtime reading for kids that like them and if patents are careful to point out and discuss the issues being discussed here. But I’m sure there are better options for school reading.

Why would you do that? You are taking things to a new round of silliness.

As a brunette (non white) child, Laura's brown hair was something that made me proud of my brown hair growing up in a sea of blondes or sun spray blondes.

Pa liked brown hair. The brown haired heroine was fiesty, smart, independent and strong.

Blonde haired Mary was vain, week and a goody two shoes. She didn't turn nice until she was struck blind.

I agree too. That passage made me proud of my brown hair. It was one I thought about a lot over my childhood.

Yep.

Laura was the first brown haired heroine ever. All the girls wanted to be Laura because she was so strong and smart.

We brunettes might not have had any Barbie dolls, but we had Laura.

She made me proud to be a brunette.

+100
I begged for, and received, a Laura doll one Christmas. I didn't want Mary - I wanted Laura with her brown braids.

You all are so laughable. You dislike “polítical correctness” when it refers to saying things such as a “good Indian is a dead Indian” but triumph a different portrayal of girls, your own version of brunette identity politics.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As a girl, I hated both the little house on the prairie books AND the TV show.

Don't really care about the naming of the award, wish they would name it after a foundation or a library or a really good children's librarian rather than an author.

Most of the libraries were named after the philanthropists who paid for them, most of whom were Robber Barons.

We can't name anything after them. ..

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a girl, I hated both the little house on the prairie books AND the TV show.

Don't really care about the naming of the award, wish they would name it after a foundation or a library or a really good children's librarian rather than an author.

PP if you never really cared or liked the series than this conversation isn't for you. You didn't really add to the conversation,did you? Not saying you can't have opinions but, in this case it has no relevance.

So the only person whose opinions count are those who liked the books? Why is that so?

Please explain.

Your views are irrelevant because you are so distinctly in the minority in not thinking Laura Ingalls Wilder a good writer. Having your opinion is fine, but it has no bearing or weight on the discussion.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a girl, I hated both the little house on the prairie books AND the TV show.

Don't really care about the naming of the award, wish they would name it after a foundation or a library or a really good children's librarian rather than an author.

PP if you never really cared or liked the series than this conversation isn't for you. You didn't really add to the conversation,did you? Not saying you can't have opinions but, in this case it has no relevance.

So the only person whose opinions count are those who liked the books? Why is that so?

Please explain.

Your views are irrelevant because you are so distinctly in the minority in not thinking Laura Ingalls Wilder a good writer. Having your opinion is fine, but it has no bearing or weight on the discussion.

Actually, I was not the poster who said that she didn't like the books. But if the discussion is whether or not the Ala should have taken her name off an award, liking or not liking the book should not be relevant.

Otherwise, you're saying the only fan boys deserve to get in an opinion on whether or not they were should be named after her

[Anonymous]

^in fact, the originalnpoates aakes, "how do other parents feel about this?" I don't believe she asked hey what only Fanboys think.

And I believe that poster stated her reasons for why she agreed with the decision. Sorry, but you don't get to dictate whose opinion is relevant and not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a girl, I hated both the little house on the prairie books AND the TV show.

Don't really care about the naming of the award, wish they would name it after a foundation or a library or a really good children's librarian rather than an author.

PP if you never really cared or liked the series than this conversation isn't for you. You didn't really add to the conversation,did you? Not saying you can't have opinions but, in this case it has no relevance.

So the only person whose opinions count are those who liked the books? Why is that so?

Please explain.

Not the PP, but way to miss the point. This thread is about the re-naming of an award originally named for Laura Ingalls Wilder. The PP admits she doesn't "really care about the naming of the award," hated the books and the TV show. So really, why is s/he here? If s/he doesn't care either way and hates all things LIW, then what's the point of posting? To tell us she doesn't care either way? Pretty stupid.

[Anonymous]

I think some of you need to learn to read better. That poster said she doesn't care about the name of the award: she wishes they would name it after someone else. Meaning, she doesn't care that they changed the name. And her reasoning is based on that she doesn't care for the books or the author. That's as good a reason as any other.

honestly, I shouldn't be here because I don't really care that much about this topic either. But I just hate the bullying aspect of people. No need to be nasty and respond to people have different opinions by telling them that they are irrelevant and they should go away. You can ignore, but I see no reason to be so freaking nasty