Becoming a Pioneer Girl

I was browsing in our local bookstore this morning, and I came across Bich Minh Nguyen's Pioneer Girl, a novel that interweaves a literature PhD's childhood love of the Laura Ingalls Wilder novels with her own family's immigrant history. I immediately knew this is a book that I *must* read: I loved the Laura Ingalls Wilder books as a child, it has a mystery at the heart of it, and the novel revolves around questions of American identity.

I was also drawn to the story because it brought to mind a recent conversation that I had with a grad student about how many historians could trace their scholarly interests to the Laura books. As the grad student put it, Laura's stories, with all their minute detail about daily life and making things like maple candy, are a "gateway drug" for young history-minded readers, especially young girls. Likewise, I'd say my interest in nineteenth century lit comes from my favorite children's books: Little Women and the Little House series. Even though a much more critical re-reading of these stories as an adult has worn off some of their aura, I also have very fond memories of my childhood obsession with these semi-fictional/semi-autobiographical accounts of life in the nineteenth century. As a little girl, I wanted to be one of those characters. If I were in elementary school right now, I'd probably be addicted to the American Girl stories, even though I don't think they are nearly as well written as the Little House series. I was sad to read recently that the American Girl doll series is moving away from the historical focus toward dolls that are marketed as mini versions of their owners. I may be romanticizing my own childhood too much, but this seems like a missed opportunity to spark young girls interest in history.

This is a long way of saying that I'm bringing a LOT of baggage to Pioneer Girl. I'll let you know what I think of it when I'm done.