Inspired Writing: Laura Ingalls-Wilder

It was Mrs. Valeria Damm who first introduced me to Laura Ingalls-Wilder and “Little House on the Praire.” When I say “me,” I actually mean the entire third grade class she was reading the book too.

Later on, my sister Deirdre received the book and as soon as I saw that she had finished it, I grabbed it up and spent the next couple of days reading it. I liked the book so much that I finally got the entire set and I read most of the series to my son, Kyle.

Now, I know about the stories that claim Wilder’s daughter, Rose, actually penned the series. I don’t care about the rumors or to even speculate on this.

What I do care about are the simple sentences and the small words used in the stories, which endear these books to generation after generation of readers. It’s these two qualities that I decided to emulate as I searched to creat my own personal style of writing.