Life in Mansfield, Missouri

I apologize for the delay in adding new posts. This one is worth the wait, at least for me.

I had heard of the books about Caroline Quiner, Laura Ingalls Wilder's mother, and enjoyed a few of the stories. I had heard of the books about Rose Wilder, but had never even seen one, until about 2 weeks ago. While browsing the children's section of the library (like I am usually doing at the library), I came across Little Farm in the Ozarks. I knew exactly what it was supposed to be about: a continued story of life with Laura Ingalls Wilder, more from the perspective of her daughter and only child, Rose. I felt kind of like when you settle for "Fred's Soda" when you really wanted Dr. Pepper. It's fine, it'll do the trick, but it's still not exactly what you want. But, I needed something different to read, and so I picked it up. I read it in about 2 days (take out time for basic homekeeping and child-rearing and so forth) and enjoyed it, even though I felt it ended on a thud. When I returned to the library to find the next book in the series, I couldn't figure out which one came chronologically next, so I ended up with the book you see above: New Dawn at Rocky Ridge. Initially, I was greatly disappointed to find out I had skipped 5 years in Rose's life--all of a sudden, she's 13 and talking about boys, of all things! Still, I read on:

New Dawn at Rocky Ridge continues the story of Rose, her mother, Laura Ingalls Wilder, and her father, Almanzo Wilder. They now live in the town of Mansfield, Missouri, for most of the winter while Rose goes to school. The family still owns the farm at Rocky Ridge, but now they share a partnership with another young family who does a lot of work for them on their farm in exchange for some of the apple crop and sales. Rose has many friends in town, and loves living among all it has to offer. She enjoys the church events, the people that drift in and out of town, and while she would admit how sinful it is, she enjoys gossip. At 13, 14, and 15 years old, as we find her, Rose is becoming more like a typical teenage girl. She gripes about fashion and wants to be seen more like a lady than a young girl. She feels plain looking when compared to her wealthy town friends. Rose gets bored in school and even has a few gripes about her chores. We get to know Rose in a way we didn't know Laura. Through Rose, we learn about what is happening in history at that time. The Women's Suffrage movement is in full swing. Women are taking on careers outside the home, and are even encouraged to further their education. Laura, on the other hand, has always been content to be a farmer's wife, happy to take pride in her chickens and her gingerbread. Rose feels the pangs of leaving farm life and meeting new people and learning new things. While the primary focus of this book is on Rose and her perspective, we do get another chance to see Laura in an intimate moment set apart in the book. Laura gets a telegraph one day telling her to come immediately, that her Pa is dying and wishes to see her. We travel with Laura one more time, back to Desmet, South Dakota, where she is reunited with the "original cast:" Ma, now "a little doll of a woman with white hair," (p 317) Mary, Carrie and Grace. She reminisces with her family as they all gather around to take care of Pa. Her final days and moments with the Ingalls family are sweet and full of memories of her Pa as a strong man, with dancing blue eyes and good humor; but also hard work, trying times and some tears--the way we remember him in Laura's books. (Get the tissues ready for this chapter). By the end of this book, Rose is falling in love and getting ready to move on in her education and begin a new chapter in life away from Mansfield.

Why we like this book: The chapter about Laura going to Desmet, need I say more? For those of us who really wished we could have had Laura write just one more book, this one fulfilled much of that for me. Many things I had read in biographies were brought to life in story form with this book. And I no longer feel like I'm settling for "Fred's Soda." Rose's story is interesting in its own way, apart from Laura's story.

Roger Lea MacBride is the author of the "Rose" series. He is the adopted grandson of Rose Wilder Lane, and it's apparent that she shared her stories and experiences with Mr. MacBride much like Laura shared with Rose. From the life changing events to the mundane housework, Rose's stories about life at the turn of the century are told in a descriptive way that we feel like we are Rose's friend, too--just we felt like we were a part of the Ingalls family when we read Laura's books.

A letter at the beginning of this book from Mr. MacBride's daughter states that this is book 6 of the series, and (yes!) there are 3 more anticipated volumes in the life of Rose and her famous family. Manuscripts have been found that will carry Rose's story through the age of 17. I am looking forward to the rest of this series and will go back to fill in the gaps I accidentally skipped. Getting to know Rose has been very enjoyable and I hope you will check out New Dawn at Rocky Ridge, or any of the other "Rose" books.