Book: The Wilder Life by Wendy McClure
Reviewed by: Clint
Everyone who grew up in the 1970’s remembers watching Little House On The Prairie. Wendy McClure has a fascination, no, obsession with the story of Laura Ingalls Wilder and her family, particularly the story told in the books. This leads her to some very interesting adventures in her warm and hilarious memoir, The Wilder Life. She churns butter, drives hundreds of miles to visit Laura’s different home sites (the Ingall’s family moved around quite a bit, not just staying in Walnut Grove like the TV show). And who knew there where so many Little House museums? In one particularly memorable scene, she and her husband visit a farm owned by a couple of homesteaders where she has a creepy encounter with an apocalyptic church group.
She also comes up with some very interesting facts about what she terms “Laura World”. For example, the character of Nellie Oleson was actually a composite of three girls who Laura knew as a child. Or did you know that in the final episode of the TV series, Michael Landon had the people of the town BLOW IT UP(!?!). This book actually inspired my roommate and I to start watching the series again on its endless syndication on the Hallmark Channel and it is just as good as it was back in the day.
McClure’s prose is breezy and very funny. It kind of reminds me of The Year of Living Biblically by A.J Jacobs, but in a prairie dress. Come down to BookPeople on April 9th at 7pm when we welcome Wendy for a reading and signing. Oh and we will also be making our own butter! Everyone at the event will be invited to participate!
BookPeople 
I used to love this show when I was in. I grew up in the 1980s, but we used to watch it all the time. Thank you for this glimpse of this book, and now I desperately want to read it!
I loved those books as a child! Maybe it’s time to check them out again, and then read this!