Even the most obvious line - they weren’t there first, but who was? - can start a conversation.

Comparing the two books and discussing ownership of the land are things that can be brought up, especially talking about Omakayas and her family, and their lived experiences and rights to the land and their home, and how this differs from what Pa thinks. As much as I cringed while reading that, I also realized that this passage would be a great opportunity to talk with my son about history, and true history, if we read this book. “No more questions, Laura,” Pa said, firmly. Won’t it make the Indians mad to have to – “ “But Pa, I thought this was Indian territory. White people are going to settle all this country, and we get the best land because we get here first and take our pick. The government is going to move these Indians farther west, any time now. “When white settlers come into a country, the Indians have to move on. Reading Little House, in the second half of the book, Laura is talking to Pa about how the government makes the Indigenous people move. You know your child best and at what ages are most appropriate to have certain conversations, and at what levels.) (With the caveat that each child is different.

I’m a big believer that there are age-appropriate ways to talk about hard things with kids - kids are aware of a lot more than people give them credit for. Reading the BooksĪs I was reading the books, I kept thinking about how I would approach this with my son, who will be 6 soon. I’d never read that book either, so I decided to read both, to deconstruct - maybe decolonize is the better word? - Wilder’s novel and come up with an approach that might be useful for learning with my son in the future. What I did note is that many times in response to various book lists, it was recommended to either switch out Little House for The Birchbark House, by Louise Erdrich, or read the books concurrently. I’d never read Laura Ingalls Wilder, so I didn’t understand the nostalgia for Little House when people would talk about it. I see homeschoolers debating this all the time on Instagram: should they read it, should they skip over parts, should they talk about the larger context and implications with their kids? There’s a lot to consider. Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder is one of those books that shows up on many, many children’s must-read book lists and children’s reading challenges, and at the same time, its place on these lists is also challenged because of its racist content.

Little house on the prairie books