Reading Caroline:  Little House Revisited was like a guilty pleasure.  It enabled me to revisit the lives of Charles, Caroline, Mary and Laura Ingalls as they travelled from the Little House in the Big Woods to Kansas in 1870.  As a girl, I loved reading the Little House series of books written by Laura Ingalls Wilder.  I also enjoyed watching the Little House television series which originally aired between 1974 and 1983.  Caroline was written from the perspective of the hardy, pregnant mother as they travelled in a covered wagon across the American midwest to stake their claim on land.

As an adult, I noticed things that I may not have understood as a child.  It was difficult to hear about the treatment of the Osage indigenous peoples as they were pushed off the land to make way for pioneers.  I also reflected on how challenging it would be as a mother of young girls to pick up and leave their extended family, travel across flooded rivers and help to build a home in the prairies.

The story was based on the actual history of Laura Ingalls Wilder and was an endearing return to childhood.  For any of you who have enjoyed the books and TV shows, it is worth listening to!