An Adventure with Laura

Laura, my daughter, and I were reading a biography about Laura Ingalls Wilder today when we came across a paragraph that made me smile.  We were reading about how Pa and Ma, Laura Ingalls Wilder's parents, both loved books and often read aloud in the evening.  William Anderson, the author, wrote the following:

Many years after those reading sessions in the Big Woods, Laura was asked how she had developed her skill as a writer.  She replied that her early exposure to books had taught her the importance of reading and writing.  "Pa and Ma were great readers,"  Laura said, "and I read a lot at home with them."

It amazes me that reading aloud to our children has been replaced by something like television.  What do we do as families in the evenings?  We don't go on adventures through books any longer?  Instead, we live vicariously through TV sitcoms.  It saddens me.

Laura Ingalls Wilder lived through an amazing period of history.  She has been read by millions of readers in her Little House on the Prairie series of books.  To think that she got some of that foundation not just in the adventures she lived, but in the simple act of being read to by the two people with the most influence in her young life... her parents.

I am so very glad that I have chosen to read to my children, even after they learn to read on their own.  We share so many adventures and stories together.   My children may never become famous authors... or maybe they will... but they will have lived a thousand adventures through books.

I have become quite selective in what my children read.  I know that quality stories will stick with a person for a lifetime.  We read a wide range of genres, from historical to adventure to non-fiction.  We love reading biographies about the lives of others.  Laura's favorite book is still George Muller.  She reread that book over and over on her own long after we read it together.  Reading to our children inspires them, and often can give them worthy heroes to emulate instead of the latest pop culture star.

The biography we are reading about Laura Ingalls Wilder is a nice addition to all of the Little House books we have read throughout the years.  I read all the books as a girl, and loved them so much I named my daughter Laura Elizabeth.  My own Laura's fascination with the Little House books began a couple of years ago.   Reading this biography doesn't feel like school to Laura.  It's just another adventure.