Laura Ingalls is turning over in her grave.

[elfs]

Last night, Omaha, Kouryou-chan and I stopped by the public library to pick up some books for Kouryou-chan since she is now reading at a first-grade level. We found a pair of Stuart Little books and something called a "My First Little House" book, "adapted from The Little house books by Lauga Ingalls Wilder" [sic capitalization], entitled A Little House Birthday.

And the tension of the story is contained in this paragraph:

Now they were all clean for Sunday, and on Sunday mornings Laura and Mary dressed in their best clothes with fresh ribbons in theit hair. On Sundays they could not run or shout or be noisy. They must sit quietly and listen while Ma read stories to them. They might look at pictures, and they might hold their rag dolls nicely and talk to them. But there was nothing else they could do.

Laura Ingalls is turning over in her grave.

I am a secularist and I admit that, but the last thing I want is some multiculti editor in a fit of... what? political correctness? focus-group-marketing?... taking the spiritual heart out of an author's work. Laura Ingalls was a Christian, and so were the characters in her story. To turn a Sunday service into some namby-pamby "just because" takes all the meaning out of the text.

And, c'mon, kids know when an author is lying to them. There is something very creepy about the elision in this book, the avoidance of words like church or bible or Jesus. The lack of any mention of prayer-- at breakfast, at dinner, at Laura's birthday-- is glaring and ugly. It is a tragic edit, and I mourn for the sacrifice of Laura Ingall's intensity in name of creating insincere pablum that a broad but undiscerning audience looking for "kid's books", as opposed to children's literature, will swallow.

Comments

[fallenpegasus]

Stick with the Stuart Little books for now. They are amazingly nuanced for "early readers".

It is my experience that almost all "children's abridgements" are not worth the sawdust or ink they are printed on.

[erisiansaint]

Actually, that paragraph is from Little House in the Big Woods. There are other parts in that chapter, which is entitled "Sunday", that deal a bit with the religious aspects, but that quote is verbatim from the book. (I know, I still re-read the Little House books periodically, and I'm over 30.) Little House in the Big Woods is the most simplistic book in the series, and even at that, it's got many details about Pa hunting and what comes after, farming, cooking/cleaning, storing food, and butchering the pigs.

[elfs.livejournal.com]

Interesting. Do you think, then, that my impression that the editor was trying to avoid any serious mention of religion is incorrect? I found it quite a bit weak; if I were reading the book and didn't know the background, I'd wonder why Sunday was set aside as a "special" day.

[poetpaladin.livejournal.com]

Guess it's not as bad as we thought. I know, in the days after Kerry's loss, we're all jittery...

[erisiansaint]

I'm trying to remember what religious aspects were dealt with in the actual books. No mention was ever made of Jesus, although the teetotalling aspect was mentioned, often, and the impression given that those who didn't pray were very...

Come to think of it, if they took out the general attitude given, then yes, it was whitewashed. In fact, Laura makes mention that she wishes that she, like Adam, had nothing but skins to wear and Ma was quite shocked. In that book, they weren't able to go to church, but that's pointed out, and the absolute strictness of Sundays in the days of Laura's Grandpa was also mentioned, including the need to learn the catechism, and the way that they HAD to go to church and listen to the preacher. So, yes, it is weak, if they took away most of the chapter. Even I understood why Sundays were special, and I was raised a non-practicing Jew.

I will note that the Little House books promote a very subtle distrust of government, just by showing that most of the troubles they had were due to Pa trying for 'free land', over and over again. Well, that and being kicked by the government from Indian Territory, just as they had glass windows in the house and the garden was growing.

[jenkitty.livejournal.com]

I'm guessing that particular passage was written the way it was because it was written from the point ofv iew of a five year old, who may not have understood the significance of what was happening.

You'll see more references to church later in the books, when the family moves out to South Dakota(? it's been a long time since I read the series). Laura sings in the choir and goes to Sunday School, and one of her friends is the adopted daughter of a minister. There's also a point later in the series, when Laura and Almanzo are engaged, where he drops by the house to let them know he's breaking the Sabbath by working on the house he's building for them.

[slfisher.livejournal.com]

Yes, that paragraph is the way it was in the book. There is very little in any of the books about Laura's personal beliefs or faith. There's a lot more in the tv show than there ever was in the books. Church is referred to more as a social thing than as a religious thing, except for an occasional 'God will provide' kind of thing, but not even very much of that.

Laura didn't sing in the choir (at least in the books). She and Almanzo went to singing school. I don't recall any mention of a choir.

[damiana-swan.livejournal.com]

Actually, that isn't quite what the original book said. (I've got it here in my hands.)

On Sundays Mary and Laura must not run or shout or be noisy in their play. Mary could not sew on her nine-patch quilt, and Laura could not knit on the tiny mittens she was making for Baby Carrie. They might look quietly at their paper dolls, but they must not make anything new for them. They were not allowed to sew on doll clothes, not even with pins.

They must sit quietly and listen while Ma read Bible stories to them, or stories about lions and tigers and white bears from Pa's big green book, The Wonders of the Animal World. They might look at pictures, and they might hold their rag dolls nicely and talk to them. But there was nothing else they could do.

Laura liked best to look at the pictures in the bib Bible, with it's paper covers. Best of all was the picture of Adam naming the animals.

This was actually a lead in to a story where Laura was naughty, ran around being loud, and said she hated Sundays. Instead of punishing her, Pa told her a story from when his father was a boy, and Sundays started Saturday night, and they meant cold food, no talking and absolutely no laughing, and after church they spent the entire day sitting on a hard wooden bench studying their catechism.

My impression (of the original books) wasn't that she tried to keep religion out of them at all. In fact, she made it clear that religion for her and her family was very much something they lived--it wasn't just going to church on Sundays. However, I also remember that before they got married, Laura insisted to Almanzo that she would not promise to obey him in their vows, so they found a minister who wouldn't insist on putting that in.

[glendower.livejournal.com]

http://www.molatar.com/index.htm

have you seen this site?

[elfs.livejournal.com]

Oh. Yes. Him. I can only quote from Seuss:

From there to here,
From here to there
Funny things are everywhere.

[glendower.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure how I would feel if someone thought of me when they read this sort of thing. Dubious honour, heh.

[riverheart.livejournal.com]

Why not just go outright to Little House in the Big Woods if she's reading at a first-grade level? I read that when I was in first grade.

(Then again, I suspect I was reading at a more-than-first-grade level when I was in first grade.)

[intrepid-reason.livejournal.com]

*Leslie delurks*
This series was suggested:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0375813659/qid=1101227284/sr=1-2/ref=sr_1_2/102-6448725-6127356?v=glance&s=books

I've heard really good things about this series.

*Leslie returns to lurking*

oh, I love Laura Ingalls Wilder

[merwy.livejournal.com]

In the original version (albeit Danish translation). I had the books read aloud to me (every single one!!) when I must have been about 6, I guess... maybe younger... then I read them myself several times and then we had them read aloud again when my sister must have been 12 and I 15. Amazing books. It was always my impression that these books did depict a religious household. But more than religious simply very moral, with many rules about things one could and could not do. Not in an oppresive way, just different from my own. So I do agree that taking out the "bible" from the passage you quoted is stupid. But more than that, comparing it with the original version is just how much of the magic and the language got lost. I know books have to be easy readers, but then go for ones written to be just that, and read the others aloud ;-)
I miss my bedtime stories.