Little House on the Prairie
Acceptable with guidance. Age: 8+. A Catholic review of this book for parents.
Our review
Laura and her family ride in a covered wagon to the wide Kansas prairie. Pa builds a log house, and the family works hard and faces sickness and danger together. They are living on land that belongs to the Osage people, and in the end they have to leave. The family life here is a real good. The girls obey, the family prays each night, and Pa works and trusts God. But some grown-ups in the book speak of Indians with fear and contempt, and one line is ugly. Read it with your child and correct it out loud.
For parents
Read aloud from six or seven. Independent reading from eight or nine. Read it with your child the first time. When Mrs. Scott says the only good Indian is a dead one, stop and say plainly that this is wrong. Every person is made in God's image, the Osage included. Ask: why is Ma afraid, and is being afraid the same as being right? Point out that Pa answers back and that Laura asks hard questions. Tell your child whose land the cabin stood on, and ask whether it was fair to build there. Then enjoy the good in it. The children obey, the family prays every night, and Pa trusts God's care.