The name Laura Ingalls Wilder (1867-1957) almost immediately conjures up the image of the vast golden prairie lands, probably more than any other name in American cultural literacy. Laura Ingalls Wilder’s series “Little House Books” based on her own life as a child hitched in a wagon behind Ma and Pa Ingalls has been instrumental in encouraging a love for reading for young and old alike. Though we know the stories by heart, what Late Bloomers Project would like to respectfully exploit is a woman later in her years who is behind the adored series. Her craft and desire to write did not develop until she was in her sixties (first book published in 1932). An elderly woman with only one surviving daughter, an author herself, she began telling her tales with her daughter’s assistance*. Developing and exploring her prowess as a writer later in her life can only inspire one to begin the journey of writing at any age or at any stage in life. It’s never too late to tell stories.
*Controversial topic: The extent of which her daughter may or may not of assisted, though through journals, letters, and other records it is clear it was a collaboration.
Laura Ingalls Wilder: a pioneer in our Late Bloomer Project family.
Stylistically young Laura Ingalls, along with Ma, Pa, Mary, Carrie, Grace, and Almanzo have inspired us to think relaxed natural browns, wild open fields unprepared for the plow, gazing out from the front porch, and flowers sprouting up in the early summer.
