Book Review: Little House in the Big Woods

The good news: I finished a book. The bad news: It was a children's book. The better news: It wasn't a picture book or board book.

Our first book of the year for book club was Little House in the Big Woods. We decided to read it as our classic for the year. The first time I read this book I was in fourth grade. I always remember it as the book I first got in trouble for reading in class when I should have been doing something else. Do you remember the scene in Anne of Green Gables when she has a book tucked inside the lesson book? That was me. Happily reading Little House when I should have probably been doing math problems. I remember loving the book then though.

I started reading it again a few weeks ago. I got a few chapters in and lost complete interest. It was boring. I was surprised at how interested I had been as a child. I ended up finishing it on audio, which was actually really good and kept my attention well. I will say that I love the way it is written as a series of vignettes and it is very descriptive.

It's funny when you reread childhood favorites as an adult - it's not what you remembered or it's boring. I actually felt this way when I reread Anne of Green Gables. I wasn't as impressed as I was the first time around. I'm finding that a lot with any book lately though, not just a children's classic. There are very few books I can reread that I seem to not like the second time around. Maybe it's my life at the time or my age but it almost makes me never want to reread a book again because I have such fond memories of it. The only books I have reread and loved every time are The Great Gatsby, Cheaper by the Dozen, Angry Housewives Eating Bon-Bons, The Divine Secrets of the Ya Ya Sisterhood and probably a handful of other ones. 

There were items I picked up reading Little House as an adult that I never did reading it as a child or at least don't remember. For instance, there are a lot of lessons in this book. Listen to your parents. Don't cry wolf. Pay attention. Do what you are told. And so many others. I felt like as an adult I noticed these so much more. I also noticed pieces of the story that in today's culture might not be as accepted by parents as when the book was written. I notice that in picture books that I read as a child that I'm not reading to Carter. The example that comes to mind in Little House is an entire chapter titled "The Rifle." It was just a completely different time. Life was so much more simple.

I'm so glad we did read it. It's definitely a book I had fond memories of reading as a child and that's what I choose to remember not my feelings about it as an adult. Make it a weekend goal coming up when the weather maybe gets rainy or even snowy again - reread one of your childhood favorites. Don't be disappointed if you don't feel the same way though.

Happy Reading!