JCK and her children are currently all things Little House on the Prairie. Today they started on These Happy Golden Years, and read together for almost two hours this afternoon. At the one hour mark, JCK asked her children if they wished her to stop reading. GIRL started rolling around the day bed moaning NOOOO, and BOY was clear in his desire for JCK to resume, while he continued to build a Tinker Toy masterpiece. So, JCK did...
All was well until JCK sneaked a peek ahead in the story and spotted a photo of Mrs. Brewster wielding a large knife over the bed of her husband, while Laura Ingalls looked on - peeping out from her curtained-off "room." The scene appeared a little NUTTY, shall we say, to read to two children aged 6 and 7.
However, BOY & GIRL were definitely up for the task. They preferred, they stated, to read scary, nutty parts during the daylight...
Always looking for those teaching moments, JCK went into a brief description of post-partum depression, of which Mrs. Brewster clearly appeared to be suffering from. Among other things... like hating her husband, living in South Dakota, and having Laura Ingalls as a boarder in her home.
JCK was chided by BOY & GIRL for digressing, veering off the topic at hand, which was simply...to read TO THEM. So, JCK continued the story of the MAD ASS Mrs. Brewster wielding a butcher knife in the darkest of night, with Laura Ingalls trembling behind a curtain.
JCK's children begged for more...
Laura Ingalls and stories of horror... Who knew?
Later, BOY & GIRL asked to watch an episode of Little House on the Prairie. (The Motherscribe household owns the full collection of the television series.) JCK needed to work for a bit, and truth be told JCK cannot get through a Little House episode without sobbing, and drooling over Michael Landon, so this time she abstained.
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I had completely forgotten about mad ass Mrs. Brewster! And the stripper music from the series. Oh, my. :)
ReplyDeleteLittle House on the Prairie really makes you realize how much we water down reality for our kids these days. The first time I pulled out my old copy of "Little House in the Big Woods" to read to the V-meister, I was a little taken aback by all the talk of children being eaten by panthers and kicking around a football made out of pig intestines.
ReplyDeleteThe V-meister, however, was unfazed.
I love this post. I've tried several times to read Little House books to my two boys. It' s no good. Especially since we are pretty much vegetarian in this house and the very first chapter in the very first book describes in beautiful detail the butchering of a pig.
ReplyDeleteYeah, that went over well.
I never got to this one. In my house (and my youth) we just re-read Little House in the Big Woods and On the Banks of Plum Creek over and over again. I especially love when she writes about food.
ReplyDeleteNow I have to re-read These Happy Golden Years. Thankfully I still have the entire set from my childhood on my bookshelf.
ReplyDeleteThese were family favorites at our house too, though the series wasn't available when my kids were young. Nothing wrong with a little stripper music on the prairie.
ReplyDeleteI probably read that book 25 times during my childhood, and I always thought that part about Mrs. Brewster was really strange. Nutty and scary - YES!
ReplyDelete"MAD ASS Mrs. Brewster"...you have such a hilarious turn of phrase, Jennifer! I LOVED the Little House series!! It was the childhood favorite of me and my sisters and Laura's adventures and travails felt so viscerally real to me. Frankly, when the story became embodied by the TV show I was less than impressed, but more likely because - like books to movies - one's own imagination always gets the story more right than what's imagined by some director! Great memory...
ReplyDeleteThere are quite a few parts of Laura Ingalls that I'm tempted to edit out when reading... the picture, though, that makes it tough! And I can still see it in my mind. I wrote a post on reading those books too. Not as funny though.... http://jaruuds.wordpress.com/2010/08/29/my-childhood-friend-laura-ingalls/
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