Customer Reviews

On the Banks of the Bayou (Little House/the Rose Years)

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is definitely one of my fave books(i'm 14). I think I first read this book when I was 9 or 10, but I wasn't mature enough to really get all of it yet. Rose is definitly growing up, separating from her mother, making good and bad friends, falling in love, taking big risks and thinking about her future. Frankly she is dying to ditch her boring, ordinary life in her small Ozarks town, but she also has to decide what she is going to do about Paul, her first love, who is gone most of the time. Basically it is a coming-of-age story set in small-town turn-of-the-century America. I liked it especially for the historical value, and would recommend it to anyone who liked the Laura books, or likes historical fiction for young adults. ...

This story has it all: Little House history, portraits of racism, women's rights, the labor movement, and a young woman preparing herself to strike out on her own. The time is different, a century ago, but the themes are as fresh as today. Rose awakens to the world around her, to the cruelty of the treatment of African Americans and begins to question authority in thoughtful and sometimes clever ways. She lives away from home with her Aunt Eliza in Louisiana going to high school, and ends this experience with new self-confidence. A decent portrait of Cajun family life as well. I would recommend this book to adults as well as young adults and wouldn't be surprised to see it on television or in the movies one day.

ON THE BANKS OF THE BAYOU is a delight. It is the best of all the Rose books. Rose goes to a Louisiana academy, taking up her aunt's offer. She stays with her aunt, and slowly realizies that she is for womens' rights. She crusades with her aunt to help boost voting for women, and along the way she learns Latin and learns about Lousiana with a new Cajun friend, Odette, and her huge family. It is fun and inspirational, but Rose also learns the horrible truth of slavery and segregation in full. When she eats at an ice-cream parlor under cooling fans, she watches a black girl pay at a special window and sit on a dingy chair in the blazing sun. Rose learns more than Latin, Algebra, and geography. She learns what it is to live in the world.

I found the book interesting but my 8 and 6 year old daughters - huge fans of the Laura years and most of the Rose years -- found it to be boring. Parents should be prepared to discuss some of the historical aspects of this books, such as, women's suffrage, discrimination, turn of the century working conditions, and socialism which are all reoccurring topics in the book. I was a little surprised that the case for socialism was presented without any counter arguments, especially in light of the adult Rose being so opposed to socialism. (I highly recommend Rose's The Discovery of Freedom" if you are interested in learning about her libertarian views.) I can't imagine Roger Lea MacBride (who died while this book was in rough draft) would not have offered up a character to counter the pro-socialist message. If your daughter reads this book, I suggest you also make available Rose's 1936 Saturday Evening Post article "Give Me Liberty" where she makes the case for liberty and individualism. It is an autobiographical account of how she almost became a card-carrying member of the Communist Party, but because of her experiences as an international reporter became convinced that socialism leads down the road to serfdom (See F. A. Hayek's Road to Serfdom.).

Delightful glimpse into Rose's life away from home and adds another layer of complexity to the bossy sister-struggling teacher-go to it gal in the form of Eliza Jane. I don't doubt for a minute most of this volume is true to word, especially the emergence of Rose's feminist/socialist values.

Fun for kids, equally interesting to this adult.

I really like the Rocky Ridge series. But this book really caught my eye.It is very different from her other journies. She does many things that her mother would not allow. She does sometimes disobey adults. But I know she can do anything. I would really recommand the whole Rocky Ridge series. P.S I can't wait till the next book!

It was a great joy to read this to my son in continuation of the series about Rose Wilder Lane (the daughter of Laura Ingalls Wilder) and her formative years. I understand there will be one more final book in this series. Is there any news about what its title will be and when it will be published? I can't wait for more and am sad that this is almost all that is available to read about Rose's life.

This book, the seventh about Laura Ingalls Wilder's daughter, Rose, was good. In it, Rose goes to live with her aunt Eliza Jane in Crowley, Louisiana, for almost a year so she can attend high school. Rose has many experiances in Louisiana. She meets a Cajun girl and her family, and goes to a traditional Mardi Gras party. She learns about the terrible racial predjudices of the turn of the century south, and joins the causes of rights for both women and workers. I highly reccomend this book.

Read the Rose books in order. This was was the book that truly molded Rose. She grew up here and really experienced life. This is a must read. As you read this, you realize she will never be the same again.

My daughter loves these books, so it was a purchase for her. She is reading it now. It was in great condition and now travels with her in her backpack.