Bachelor Girl (Little House) (Paperback)

~ Roger Lea Macbride (Author), Dan Andreasen (Illustrator) "On a sweltering June afternoon, soon after she had returned home from Louisiana, Rose paused in the shade of the post-office doorway, leaned against the..." (more)
Key Phrases: telescope bag, bachelor girl, Kansas City, San Francisco, Western Union (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Wilder fans will eagerly absorb this latest offering, and a few of the chapters will make terrific read-alouds." -- -- ALA Booklist

Product Description

In this eighth and final book of the Rose Years series, Rose has become an independent young woman. She leaves RockyRidge Farm, first for Kansas City to learn how to be a telegrapher, then for San Francisco. Her dream is to work for ayear or two, save a little money, and then marry Paul Cooley, her childhood sweetheart. But the big city has all sorts ofsurprises in store for Rose, and she finds that she's destined to travel a road she never even imagined.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 9-12
  
• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: HarperCollins (September 22, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0064406911
• ISBN-13: 978-0064406918
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 5.2 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #121,473 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Bachelor Girl, March 16, 2005

By	Rose fan - See all my reviews

As true Laura and/or Rose fans know, "Bachelor Girl" is simply a redress of Roger MacBride's 1977 "biography" of Rose Wilder Lane, which in turn was a rip-off of Roses's 1919 'semi' autobiographical novel, "Diverging Roads".

I feel this was a poor finish to the "Rose Years" series. Given that the MacBride family inherited the hugely successful and profitable "Little House" franchise from Rose, it's a shame that they've passed off this fictional account not once, but TWICE, as a true depiction of Rose's life as a young woman.

While the essentials and facts are mostly true, anyone who has read or researched Rose's life knows that Rose and Paul Cooley were never "engaged". And Gilette Lane was not the "dashing older man" portrayed in the books. In fact, he was one year younger than Rose! Evidence supports that they met while Rose was working in Kansas City and her subsequent move to San Francisco was likely to follow him there, marrying him the next year, BEFORE they sold real estate together.

My disgust with this book really lies in the fact that the owners of the Little House franchise (the MacBride heirs) should have shown more respect for both Rose and the fans of the series and ended the Rose years with a more accurate and honest portrayal of their benefactress.

The spunky characterization of Rose from the earlier books is gone here, and we're left feeling concerned about her choices and future. Nice example to set for girls of today who've read this series from the beginning!

26 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A wonderful end to a wonderful series, February 19, 2000

By A Customer

If anyone out there has hesitated to read the Rose Wilder Lane entries into the extended Little House family as they felt as I once did they would be pale copies of the original series, please don't hesitate any longer! This series has a voice of its own, and is very, very well written. I wish it was longer. I loved this last book. Rose is very different than Laura and in fact I think most women of her day. She is very strong willed and intelligent, and determined to make her own way in the world. I was especially struck by the descriptions of the early day of her life both in Kansas City and San Francisco---just how lonely and desolate life could be for a career girl starting out in those days, and how strong she was to persevere. Her growing awareness in this book that the life she always saw for herself---as a contented wife to Paul in a small world---is not really what she wants is very well done. The message sent to girls who might read this book is powerful. I also very much liked the way this series "grew up" like the original series. This last book is quite adult, though certainly not inappropriate for those who also read the early ones.

19 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Nice Finale to the Rose Series, December 9, 1999

By	thorvald (USA) - See all my reviews

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"Bachelor Girl" was a nice closing episode to the 'Rose' series of books. It was a well-chosen ending place to the story as Rose clearly is leaving the child world and entering that of the adult at the end.

The 'Rose' series, overall, makes a nice compliment to the original 'Laura' series--not as good, mind you, but a decent sequel. The series starts off a bit slow and uneventfully, but picks up in the later books. I'd recommend them to young readers who've read the 'Laura' books and want more of the story. They don't have, and won't give, the same historical sense as the original series, however, as they lack that element of first-hand flavor Laura was able to give to an era she actually lived through.

Now the nit-picking critique...I found myself questioning the portrayal of Rose's personality in this 8th book. In the previous books she'd been pridefully, almost arrogantly, confident in her intelligence and educational achievements. Though she hadn't socialized well with kids her age she had been bold and out-going in other ways (dating a college man, etc.). Now, grownup and on her own, Rose is suddenly shy and uncertain, letting herself be trod upon and looked down upon. And tell me, would a girl who had managed to learn fluent Latin in less than a year have to look up the definition of "inhibitions"? Laura, even when she was being a proper young lady, always held onto her inner rebelliousness--Rose's seems to have been nearly snuffed out in most of this book.

I also wondered about her sudden interest in being a housewife. Flirting with the idea of playing house with Paul could have worked better if it had been clearly battling inside her with her desire for independence. The entire Paul relationship was not quite as deftly worked as it could have been. Its resolution was foreshadowed in a clunky, predictable way. It was interesting to meet Rose's future husband (and future ex-husband), Gillette Lane. He was not fully fleshed out as a character, but one could see how he would both fascinate her with his flash and style and, regrettably, the traits that could make the relationship fall apart later.

Oddly, San Francisco didn't come to life in the story. A curious omission was the cable cars. I never quite felt I could place her within the City even though several specific places were mentioned (including places where the, mentioned, street cars would have been cable cars). The atmosphere was missing.

Something I would have liked to have seen hints of was Rose's future career as a journalist. Though she wrote many letters (were these historically authentic? ), the inclination to a writing career didn't come through.

Though these books were written as children's or young adult's stories--fiction based on fact-- I would dearly have loved to have seen an "historical notes" section at the end.