Star-Crossed Readers

I recently just finished "The Wilder Life: My Adventures in the Lost World of Little House on the Prairie" by Wendy McClure. I absolutely loved it. I loved that it was about Little House. I loved the love of Laura.  I loved the author's voice and vision. Also, I  am completely convinced we would be dear friends if she lived in Ann Arbor. (Why did her book tour skip my town? I would have hosted on our deck, passing out tin cups, pennies, and peppermint sticks!)

And then I found out that all the while that  I was reading about Little House and entering Laura-land, Claude was, too. She had been enjoying the My First Little House Books Series with her teacher, Pat. I had always poo-pooed this series as "not-quite" Little House books. Cheater books, really-- like Little House Cliff's Notes. Shamefully, I admit I never even read one before this dismissal.

Then Claude started bringing them home and I was asked to read them. And being as sweet as Ma Ingalls, read them I did. Was I ever surprised! The books are so lovely; the pairing of illustrations in the style of Garth Williams and simple text that rolls off your tongue and captures the essence of Little House in a way that a small child can understand is just delightful. Being 3 1/2, Claude's grasp of days long past is not terribly developed, but she gets these. She gets Laura.

I like to think that Claude and I are are perhaps reading soulmates, and wondering if perhaps Blaine and I should have named her Laura rather than Claudia.

How incredible that all these feelings started with a book.