Laura and Me (part 1)

     I remember when I read my first "Little House" book by Laura Ingalls Wilder.  I'm pretty sure it was On the Banks of Plum Creek and I was in the 4th grade.  Sometime before I finished that book or soon afterward I realized that it was part of a series.  On the next trip to the library I checked out Little House in the Big Woods and Little House on the Praire.  I quickly read through the series including what I have always considered one of the saddest books ever, The First Four Years.
    After that first reading I think I read the entire series at least once a year.  I got a paperback set of the series and read them so many times I wore them out.  I always read The Long Winter during the hottest part of the summer because the imagery was so intense that I would shiver sitting outside on a 95 degree day in August.  When I was sad I would read These Happy Golden Years because I've always loved a romantic story.  Even as an adult I have read these books many times and as a young wife decided to collect the books in hardback.  Sometime during the years of collecting (I only bought one book a year) the publisher changed the cover!  I feared my collection would never be complete because I wanted the entire set with the Garth Williams artwork covers I had checked out of the public library and first read.  I don't remember how but somehow I completed my collection.
     When the TV movie Little House on the Prairie came out I enjoyed it.  But I never liked the TV show.   Pa had a beard, Michael Landon didn't.  Ma was a wife and mother of the 19th century.  She did what she had to do.  The Ma in the show was a 20th century woman in the 19th century.  Mary could do a lot after she became blind but getting married never entered the picture! Laura had blue blue eyes - not chocolate brown. And where did Albert come from?!  No, I never liked the show and didn't watch many episodes.
    But I still loved Laura and wanted to find out more about her.  I'll tell you more about my search to know Laura on another day.  For now, I think I'll re-read The Long Winter - our air conditioner hasn't been working right and I need to cool off!