Happy Review Day here on Dr. Hodges Reads! Today, I am reviewing an advanced copy of Laura Ingalls is Ruining My Life by Shelley Tougas. This book will be released on October 10, 2017!
To begin, I want to say that the reason I requested this title is because I am a huge fan of the Little House series. When I was in 2nd grade, I began reading these books and could not get enough of them. I remember being proud of myself for tackling such a large book (these topped out over 300 pages, y'all), and how many feelings I had while I read. The perils of the prairie and the sacrifices the Ingalls family made kept me coming back for more.
Once I finished the series, the love of reading was deeply ingrained in me, and I needed more books. This sparked a rush on reading the classics of the time - The Wizard of Oz, A Little Princess, The Secret Garden, and Little Women. I believe many of these books shaped me as a reader and truly helped foster my love of reading.
Laura Ingalls is Ruining My Life by Shelley Tougas
In Laura Ingalls is Ruining My Life, we meet Charlotte Lake. Charlotte and her family are nomads, constantly moving to new cities for her mother's passion. Charlotte's mother wants to be a published author and wants to write a book about Laura Ingalls, who was inspirational to her as a child. Charlotte is embarrassed by her mother's obsession and frustrated at always having to start a new school and new life. She never feels like she fits in anywhere. To complicate her life more, she has a twin brother who has taken a vow of silence, since he feels his voice is not being heard in the moves, and a younger sister who is perfect. Charlotte struggles to make friends and find her niche among so many moves.
The family has now relocated to Walnut Grove, one of the places Laura Ingalls grew up. It houses a Laura Ingalls museum that hosts an essay contest each year. In a spark of brilliance, Charlotte decides to enter the contests and win the grand prize of $500. She knows this money will change her family's life and maybe help her mother put down some roots. As the contest deadline nears, Charlotte becomes very ill with the flu and misses over a week of school, and time to create her essay. At the last moment, she furiously scribbles out the line, "Laura Ingalls is ruining my life," and turns that in as her essay. Her clever teacher reads this and probes Charlotte to write more and dig deeper, which she does.
I won't spoil whether Charlotte wins or loses and what happens next...you'll have to read yourself. Overall, I found the book to be sweet and very appropriate for elementary readers. I also think this would make a fun read-aloud, as the problems Charlotte faces are typical of elementary children. While my love for Laura Ingalls runs deep, this was a difficult book for me to review, so I'm going to approach this review from two perspectives.
As a child who grew up loving Laura Ingalls, this was an amazing read. I really enjoyed getting to see the Little House books from the perspective of Charlotte's mother. She is the child, like me, who grew up reading and loving these books. I liked getting to see a new generation fall in love with this series and see how the new generation questions the books. Charlotte completes a social studies unit in school that focuses on the native tribes during the Ingalls pioneering journey. I also liked the references to the books, which made me remember details I hadn't thought about in a while.
As an educator, I'm not sure who to recommend this book to. One phenomenon I see now is revitalizing classics with retellings or inspired books such as this one. However, a person who grew up reading Little House is not the intended audience, it's kids today. I would only want a child who had read the Little House books to read this book, because there are spoilers (such as Mary going blind). I wouldn't want those to be spoiled for a child who might read the series. At the same time, this book is intended for a young, elementary audience. I don't think an older child who read the Little House books would enjoy this book because the problems the character faces are very much at the elmentary school level.
In short, I liked this book and would definitely want it in my classroom and in the hands of kids. However, I would be pretty selective on who I recommended this book to and at what point I gave this book to a child. If the spoilers to the Little House books were removed, I think this could be a great gateway to that series.
I gave this 4/5 stars on Goodreads! Happy Reading!
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