What a great idea for a story, especially for those of us who grew up with the Little House books and want to share the experience with our children. How fortunate, however, that I chose to preview this one before passing it along to my daughter. The book really isn't about Wilder at all. The overstory is used as a vehicle by the author to decry the evils of human beings as they take over the planet, littering, polluting and deforesting.

The litany is outrageous. As our young hero searches out the places where Wilder lived, we learn that winters are no longer hard because of destruction of the rain forest, people who drive RV's are hogs, the entire Big Woods has been chopped down for furniture, Lake Pepin is filled with litter, reproductions of historical sites have been turned into tourist traps by capitalists, streets have been paved and Silver Lake turned into a sewage pond. When the young diarist is disappointed that De Smet is not having a civic July 4th celebration her mother responds that the townsfolks must all be home sitting in their air-conditioning. The overall tone of the book is, well, whiney.

I don't think it's necessary to spend another 500 words debunking these points. Some of them are no doubt true. The bottom line is that Ms. Lasky has used a childrens book along with the name of a cherished author to disseminate her political and social views to the young and impressionable. Rhetoric is often at the core of worthwhile adult literature but is sorely misused here. I wonder if the author is getting a royalty from copies of this book sold at those tacky souvenir shops?

The photographs are gorgeous, and the story's very sweet and engaging. I bought the book for my eight year old niece, and I'm sure she'll adore it. (I've never read the Laura books, I'm afraid)... The really strange thing, what first caught my eye, is the co-author's name: Meribah Knight. Funny; my name is Mirabai Knight. Both pretty uncommon, aren't they? If the authors ever check this webpage, I'd like to email them. I'm curious about where they found a name like that for their daughter (and let's see... she must be around 15 or 16 now, right? I'm 17.), and how she's doing. Cool bit of serendipity, anyway. (`8