Customer Reviews

Laura's Album: A Remembrance Scrapbook of Laura Ingalls Wilder (Little House)

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This scrapbook of photos and souvenirs from the life of Laura Ingalls Wilder is enthralling. How did these precious items survive trips in all kinds of weather in a covered wagon, moves that covered several states and entailed unimaginable hardships? I did not come to the Wilder books until I reached 70, yet I'm fascinated. To me, the heroine of these odysseys was Ma. Her accomplishments were in no way secondary to those of her adventurous and resourceful husband. Ma gave birth alone, braved blizzards and fires and plagues with the children while her husband was away. This book of remembrances makes it all real and true and is as educational as the Little House books themselves. A winner.

LAURA'S ALBUM includes photos of people, places, important items (such as Pa's fiddle), and many other interesting items (postcards, hand-written treasures, newspaper clipping, even a sample of Laura's needlework).

In addition to showing many of Laura's memories in photo-form, this book also give a basic history of her life by decade. It's a great supplement to her LITTLE HOUSE books, and is comprehensive enough to give a lot of extra information to those who are interested in Laura's "real life."

I realize of course there was text, written superbly by William Anderson. The treat here, though, is the color photographs of artifacts from the museums. For anyone disappointed in the poorly reproduced b&w photos from West from Home and On the Way Home, you are in for a treat.

But as a Laura-junkie, I'd shave a 1/2 a star off as I wanted more, more, more!

I had high hopes for this book but I was disappointed, although some of the contents were interesting. There were many reproductions of letters and articles, but many of them were too small to read, incomplete or partly covered up by something else. It was interesting to see the letters or articles, but I would have liked to read the whole thing, rather than being able to see only some of it. For the parts that aren't covered up, you may need a magnifying glass! The photos were also interesting, but many of them were small, dark and in need of restoration. I would have liked to give a better review because I'm a fan of Laura Ingalls Wilder.

I highly recommend that book to all Laura Ingalls Wilder fans. You will find pictures of the Ingalls family, Manly and Laura ,even of Nellie Owens (AKA Nellie OLeson) and much more. In my opinion this is one of the best I bought about her.

This book told me many facts about the Ingalls family and Laura which were new to me. I enjoyed seeing copies of the correspondence between Laura and her family. Mary's letter to a friend was fascinating, not so much for the content as for how she wrote it.

This book is, basically, exactly what it says it is: a scrapbook of photographs and memorabilia of the Ingalls and Wilder families, and also the same of the extended family and friends mentioned in the "Little House" books. Short but informative blurbs are set around the photographs. Chapters are divided in ten-year blocks of time, with the applicable photographs of that period included therein.

This book has some photographs I haven't seen before, including a nice photograph of young Almanzo Wilder with his sister Alice, and a photo of the adult Almanzo with his two brothers (which proves that Almanzo was the best-looking brother). There is also an interesting (but small) photo of "Ma" in old age taken by Carrie, and a photograph of Carrie on her homestead claim (again, somewhat small). I could wish interesting photographs like these were printed larger and clearer. The book also reprints Pa's newspaper obituary, which is touching and interesting to read.

I liked seeing the lesser known photographs. But, if I had to choose between books to purchase, then I've got to say that as an adult, my preference is for LAURA INGALLS WILDER COUNTRY, which is another Ingalls/Wilder family-photograph-compilation-type book prepared by Mr. Anderson, which contains more details on the places where the families lived. That book has slightly fewer family photographs (but of those, it has many of same ones seen in Laura's Album). This is not to knock LAURA'S ALBUM, though I think, given its style and format, LAURA'S ALBUM would make a nice starter gift for a young adult who's read the Little House books and is interested in knowing more about the true history of the family.

Looking for new ideas for my grandmother's scrapbook, I wanted to see how this unique author has been represented in scrapbook form. It is interesting to see this outstanding format and along with the story, pictures and mememotos from her life! I like the way the narrative was presented to match the photos and other notes and articles about Laura's life. Shown were the rara ambrotypes of the Civil War era. I also have the similar ambrotypes but did not know what they were named!

Laura's album, was a very good book to read if you are a die hard " Little House " fan like me. It is full of documents and hand written notes, as well as pictures of the Ingall's and Wilder families. And at the end of the book, there is a timeline that is great to see and read. I would highly recommend this book to everyone. Thank you, Pamela

Laura's Album shows readers actual snapshots from the life of writer, Laura Ingalls Wilder. Apparently Mrs. Wilder found it difficult to throw things away. As a result the reader is treated to pictures of some of the people and objects described in the Little House books. There are pictures of her entire family and pictures of the fiddle that Pa plays so merrily in many of the books.

The reader is also given a brief history of the wanderings and lives of Mrs. Wilder and her kinfolk. Much of the focus is on Mrs. Wilder's adult life and what she did as her fame began to spread.

This book is a must for fans of the Little House books and anybody who is interested in what rural life was like in the United States in the late 1800s.